red house 2

Client	J. Grundy & D. Bell
Address	Boars Hill
Address	Oxford
Time scale	2001
Budget	£50K

Loft conversion and porch. The owners wanted to reunify the house as well as extend into the loft.

Click small pictures above for larger views

"What you did most successfully for us - and these areas show how carefully you listened to our initial conversations about our requirements - was to bring light into the house through the velux window above the new stairs and through the opened-up doors on the ground floor, to design a porch which provides a real talking point, and to give me in my office the most wonderful working space I have ever had."
John Grundy 1st July 2001

The Red House is situated on the leafy slopes of Boars Hill to the SW of Oxford. As with many houses, it had been extended and extended in such a way that the ground floor had become segmented.

The owners - a tutor of German and a sculptor - wanted to re-unify the house as well as extend into the extensive loft area.

They also wanted a porch - both for practical reasons and to create a stronger more iconic entrance in vernacular materials. The front door, which follows the geometry of the original door, has coloured glass panels to the bottom and a glass top panel to match the previously renewed windows.

The result was a series of internal interventions - opening up walls and windows to facilitate circular movement through the house. To reach the attic, where there is a bedroom on one side and a study on the other, a small room had to be sacrificed to allow access.

The extra benefit to the house is the top stair lighting which brings natural light into the centre of the house and down the stairs which were previously rather dark.

There are two types of rooflight - the lower ones are specifically designed for escaping from loft conversions in the event of an emergency.