03 Aug 2023

Crafting a Modern Family Haven

Robert Hirschfield Architects' (RHA) brief for Vine House was to create “a house where everything has its place” whilst keeping in mind three young children whose use of the home would change over time. In short, RHA was asked to design a great family home that would, in part, have a lovely open-plan feel to it but also provide defined spaces that could be closed off.

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The house is located in the leafy Hampstead Garden Suburb, north of Hampstead Heath. It is a detached home built in the 1930s with an air of countryside village vernacular in the Arts & Crafts style, typical of the location and time. RHA arrived at the design after careful consultation with the client to ascertain their ambitions for the house, which were quite specific from the outset after having lived there for some time prior to commissioning the work. RHA’s response was to celebrate the home’s design as an authentic interpretation of the area’s traditional Arts & Crafts style, redefining the aspirations for suburban architecture. It required sensitive restoration as part of a full house renovation.

RHA arrived at an extensive yet sensitive proposal to reconfigure the interior and extend the house to tailor the plan to the client’s needs. Externally, the practice worked closely with the local conservation authority – the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust – to respect the subtleties and original character of the house, which the client was also partial to.

Join us as Robert Hirschfield himself takes us on a captivating journey through the intricacies of crafting the newly-envisioned Vine House.

Were there any challenging aspects of the project?

The main challenge externally was in connection with circulation. The front door and entrance hall were rethought as a formal point of entry, whilst a new side entrance was created for busy day-to-day use by the family. The latter included the removal of the rickety old garage and its replacement with a new side extension. This was concealed behind the facade of the original to form a secondary entrance that houses a boot/utility room with plenty of space for all three children and their school bags. Good natural light was also achieved overhead using a frameless roof light.

Working on existing houses, such as this, requires a reactive attitude to the various ‘unknowns’, which generally arise in areas where they are ‘unseen’. On several occasions, we had to adapt the detailed design to the peculiarities of the existing building as it was stripped back before the new interventions were built.

Detailing the new extension to give the appearance externally that it was a garage that had ‘always been there’ also presented an interesting challenge that we enjoyed overcoming.

How did you approach material and product specifications?

Since the whole property required sensitive restoration as part of a full house renovation, the design and materials were carefully orchestrated to create a series of spaces that best serve the family’s needs while still maintaining an elegant appearance.

It was essential to the client that the house continued to pay homage to the design principles of the Arts & Crafts movement, focusing on the central entrance hall from which internal spaces are organised and, in turn, lead to the garden beyond. Using a vernacular palette of materials, the design celebrates the style of properties prevalent within the conservation area whilst providing for the contemporary needs of a growing family. We also worked with Shaadee Asekour Interiors on the project.

Can you provide us with an overview of the final touches applied to both the interior and exterior spaces of Vine House?

Externally, the traditional material palette of brick, render, timber and clay tiles were all restored or cleaned, including an intricately-carved detailing of grape vines to the front gable, which led to the project’s name ‘Vine House’.

Timber parquet was laid across the entire ground floor and, together with dark-panelled walls, lend a feeling of grandeur. Whilst marble details in the kitchen and bathrooms bring a timeless quality to the spaces.

How does the building respond to its surrounding landscape?

Views of the large landscaped rear garden play an essential part in experiencing the house and its position in the context of the Garden Suburb movement. There is an enjoyable view of the garden that greets you immediately on entry through the front door, which is important to visually and physically connect the inside of the house with the garden.

Similarly, all the principal rooms in the house, such as the kitchen, living room and master bedroom, all face the garden. In doing so, they celebrate the home as an authentic interpretation of the area’s traditional Arts & Crafts style and redefine the aspirations for suburban architecture.

What do you love most about the project?

The large open-plan kitchen and dining area is a real highlight as it runs the full depth of the house. Equally, the bar in the living room is exquisitely designed in collaboration with Fowler & Co using American black walnut with a Carrara marble worktop. It even houses a secret TV behind slatted tambour doors.

What’s your favourite room?

To the south end of the ground floor, a new and spacious kitchen and dining area was formed across the full depth of the house, with aspects from both the front and the rear looking onto the garden. A generously-proportioned new Shaker-style kitchen, including a large island, was located at the garden end, with the open-plan space also accommodating a large dining table at the front of the house and glazed double doors leading from the hall. This is now the home’s main space both for the family’s day-to-day use and when entertaining. A desk was also included in the kitchen area to enable working from home and children’s studying.

To achieve this, the previous cellular arrangement of the kitchen, dining room, cloakroom and utility room were all knocked through together. Rationalising excess space from the existing hall enabled the cloakroom to be relocated to a more central position on the ground floor, whilst the utility room was moved out into a new purpose-built extension.

Is the finished space everything that you hoped it would be?

Our clients have best summed this up: “Robert and his team worked with us to incorporate all our requirements and designed a house to perfectly suit our family needs, ensuring optimum functionality of every inch of precious space. With meticulous and careful detailing, RHA ensured a smooth road with the planning applications as well as with the tender process, and selection of contractors and suppliers.

“RHA’s involvement from concept to completion has resulted in an incredible transformation, and we are now thoroughly enjoying being back in our lovely home. It really is difficult to put into words how much joy we are taking from the house, and the more time we spend here, the more we like and appreciate it for the way it is designed.”

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