Luke McLaren and Rob Excell have been associates since childhood. They each went on to develop into architects and to discovered the award-winning London agency McLaren Excell, members of the Remodelista Architect and Designer Listing. The 2 are daring minimalists: they describe the look they’re after as “a sturdy simplicity.” However their workforce of 14 are additionally specialists in basic craftsmanship and delicate historic renovations.
Updating this Grade II-listed Excessive Victorian villa in Henley-on-Thames, well-known for its annual rowing regatta, required them to place their full talent set to work. The most important problem was changing an current rear extension that was extensively glazed, double pitched, and, of their phrases, “clashed with the fashion and interval of the home.” Be part of us for a take a look at the home’s new guise.
Pictures by Rory Gardiner, courtesy of McLaren Excell.
Above: The three-story construction was in-built 1890 and now belongs to a global couple, an entrepreneur and a surgeon, who’re each philanthropists, modern design aficionados, and champion rowers (therefore eager to be in Henley). The restored façade has a doorways and window frames painted a gray-green to attract out the darkish brick detailing. Invisibles, such because the re-insulated partitions and roof house, the architects say, “guarantee the continued sustainability of this excellent household dwelling.”Above: The double-peaked rear extension homes the kitchen and eating space. McLaren Excell sourced reddish-pink bricks made by 200-year-old Danish model Petersen Tegl for his or her similarity to the brickwork of the primary home. “Lime-based Sussex Pink mortar from Limetec,” they be aware, “lends the brand new construction a way of presence and permanence whereas retaining it subservient to the host constructing.”Above: “Brick soffits had been used to type deep reveals above the massive, glass sliding door, whereas vertical parts taper again to create robust horizontal strains, offering a way of openness from the inside’s outlook,” write the architects. Of their streamlined look, they are saying: “We depend on the context of the positioning for type and materiality, even when it’s a minimalist interpretation.”Above: Huge home windows overlook a water function designed to “evoke the sight and sound of the Thames honoring our shoppers love of rowing.” Sean Walter from The Plant Specialist oversaw the landscaping. Above: The point of interest of the open kitchen is an immense custom-designed island clad in Italian titanium travertine: its vertical parts are sandblasted and the highest is polished to make it extra hardwearing. Partitions and flooring of oiled oak create an elegantly quiet backdrop for the stonework.