The Glass and Timber Houses was designed by Hampson Williams Architecture in Dulwich, United Kingdom. An old joinery workshop in the backlands between two storey terrace houses had been demolished to create a site for two elegant new houses where the use of timber and finely detailed joinery was central to the success of the project. The client was the joiner and he was rightly proud of his work. Principally each dwelling has been arranged around an inward looking double height glazed courtyard. At ground floor this fully glazed device affords long views through each house, connecting the courtyard with internal living spaces and the private gardens beyond. In spite of being “negative space” , the courtyard becomes the central focus of each house.

At the upper level the bedrooms, although arranged around the courtyard and connected both physically and visually by the glazed double height stairwell, are released to responded directly to their immediate external site constraints in a more sculptural manner. Appropriate modulation has provided breathing space to the neighbouring garden boundaries, unlocking upper level landscaping opportunities that seek to retain the neighbours original perception of greenness, all be it as a bi-product of the original workshops becoming overgrown through lack of maintenance.

By re-planting at all levels including extensive green roof-scapes this ambiance has been maintained but with a greater sense of purpose. New habitats have been engineered to encourage biodiversity with specific nesting sites for birdlife and insects, and rainwater has been harvested from all roof areas for re-use within the project for grey water purposes.

Controlling overlooking and privacy was realised by orientating the bedroom views with fixed slot windows that seamlessly change plane from vertical to horizontal. They maintain the intimate nature of the spaces whilst harnessing and exploiting natural light and sky views.

In terms of construction, the soft touch screw pile foundation system which develops no spoil, provided the perfect platform to erect this total timber solution. Engineered timber beams and joists formed the principle framing technology, allowing the two floors to be flexibly arranged. Site fabricated timber framed wall panels in-filled with high performance insulation and dressed in vertical Western Red Cedar boarding formed the external wall construction giving the project its striking visual appearance.

With the upper level glazing being fixed, ventilation to bedroom spaces was introduced in the form of opening wall panels. Each panel was book matched to the external cladding, and therefore almost seamless when closed, the only hint of their presence a small drip detail. Internally the extensive use of timber continues, select grade Douglas Fur has been crafted for the courtyard glazing frames and sliding doors and the expressed suspended staircase.

The completed composition sees both dwellings floating on a continuous sea of Massandubra decking drawing the visitor through the narrow entrance way and moving through the site, unifying it’s forms, external spaces and landscaping into one seamless whole.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 at 8:29 am and is filed under Home Design Ideas. Tags: bi-product, Douglas Fur, Dulwich, Dulwich Washington, Glass and Timber Houses, glazed device, Hampson Williams architecture, Massandubra, principle framing technology, timber solution, United Kingdom, united kingdom houses, United States. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.