Ultra modern home with a Scandi edge
Location Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
Completion date 2019
Cost Undisclosed
Ultra modern home in a historic context
The challenge: take a historic wine store and transform it into a modern family home with a New York loft apartment vibe and a Scandi design feel.
The original building in the centre of Bradford on Avon stretched across four floors, from the vaults to a high ceiling space. Key elements were the new staircases which opened access to the upper floors. The one running from ground floor to first floor has open Douglas fir treads supported by a painted steel structure, while the staircase above is an even more striking piece of design – a birch ply staircase suspended from the high ceiling on long steel rods.
Much of the house is open plan, and all the partitions have been added, separating out four bedrooms on the upper floors. A new glass screen spread over two floors opens the home to the rear. All the stonework has been carefully restored and floorboards on the first and second floors carefully refurbished.
Our most challenging and unusual task was to achieve an exceptionally high level of airtightness for the entire building – something usually viewed as impossible for an old building. Air loss is one of the hardest things to overcome. But we managed it by installing membranes in the roof and around the window and door openings. A mechanical ventilation heat recovery system (MVHR) intelligently controls the flow of air in and out, and enhances the building’s energy efficiency even further, requiring dramatically less heating.
Throughout this unusual project we collaborated closely with the architect. It was particularly important to him, since it was his own future home that we were creating. Situated alongside one of Bradford on Avon’s central streets, it has become an intriguing addition to a town famous for its historic architecture.
