UK studio Fletcher Crane Architects has completed Lowater, a house in Buckinghamshire comprising a group of red-brick forms that draw on the area's traditional architecture.

Lowater is located within a conservation area in the town of Marlow and sits alongside a church overlooking the River Thames.

This led Fletcher Crane Architects to blend forms familiar to the area with more contemporary finishes and interiors in its design.

"The home is located in the greenbelt and a conservation area," project architect Carmine Bassi told Dezeen.

"As such, there was a conscious reference to the cluster of adjacent buildings – a church and a historic home – to ensure a responsible integration into the context," he continued.

"[It] seeks to forge a relationship between the local church and a quality historic property to evolve an architecture of red brick, pitched roof forms and courtyard gardens in a relevant and respectful manner."

Entry to the site is beyond a perforated red-brick wall, where a pergola of timber, steel and zinc shelters a path bisecting the site. This path meets the home in a glazed link section before becoming a narrow pool on the other side.

This glazed entrance space connects the largest volume, which contains a living, dining and kitchen space beneath a skylit study mezzanine, with an adjacent gabled form containing a more private lounge beneath the main bedroom.

The larger form enjoys views across a small pond and the river through a fully-glazed facade shielded by metal louvres, while the opposite end features glazing behind a screen of perforated brickwork.

One end of the main bedroom also looks out to the garden and towards the river, while the other looks onto a cloister-like courtyard, partially wrapped by the covered paths that connect each of the home's distinct forms.

"One side of the house seeks to take in and accentuate fantastic river views whilst to the other, a series of cloistered spaces border a reflecting pool, all set behind a red-brick garden wall," explained Bassi.

"A perforated brick facade characterises the main gable face and creates a quiet theatricality in the way that the glazed walls, lights and life are partly concealed and reflect over the pool," he added.

To the north, a single-storey volume houses guest bedrooms and a garage, fronted by a screen of vertical wooden battens to provide privacy.

Inside Lowater, the more traditional use of red brick is contrasted by the "honest expression" of its steel and timber structure, with the exposed roof bracing bringing an almost industrial feel to the upper levels.

Fletcher Crane Architects was established in 2010 in Kingston upon Thames by Toby Fletcher and Ian Crane.

Previous projects by the studio include a compact brick home on a former garage site in London and a house built on an infill site near London's Hyde Park.

The photography is by Lorenzo Zandri.

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Fletcher Crane Architects has completed a two-bedroom house on a brownfield plot in west London featuring grey-brick walls that are left exposed throughout the living areas and sunken bedrooms.

Named Tree House, the dwelling was designed by London studio Fletcher Crane Architects for a former garage site in a conservation area in Chiswick that is bounded by rear gardens.

The studio was challenged to design a house that makes the most of the compact plot while also meeting strict local planning criteria including a limit to the building's parapet level.

To provide the necessary spaces, this required embedding the house in the ground using excavations extending to a depth of 3.2 metres below street level.

"Building on a brownfield site with a series of constraints ultimately created a special home," project architect Harry Reid told Dezeen.

"The resulting massing straddles the boundary over a split-level arrangement of four floors," Reid added. "This configuration means no floor is really disconnected from each other and makes the 85-square-metre home feel bigger than it really is."

Tree House is designed to fit unobtrusively in the terraced street, although its geometric form and grey-brick walls mark it out as a contemporary addition. Its name nods to a tree situated on the pavement outside.

"The street scene is mature and repetitive, with a significant row of historic villas which are all set back from the road," Reid pointed out. "Our site sits on the street front and we used brick boundary walls to ensure this stitched into the prevailing materiality."

The cubic volumes are built using load-bearing brick with flush-jointed lime mortar. The brickwork is left exposed both inside and out to highlight the construction method.

A secluded passage along the western boundary leads to the house's entrance, which opens onto a kitchen-diner and a circulation spine connecting several split levels.

The main living areas are located on the upper floors to make the most of the available natural light. Two bedrooms with adjoining bathrooms are situated within the semi-sunken levels below.

A courtyard adjoining one of the bedrooms is lined with stepped brick planters and is accessed from the driveway via a paddle stair made from black cobble setts.

Externally, the grey brick contrasts with black timber and tubular metalwork, forming a simple and raw material palette that extends inside the house.

The internal brick walls are complemented by ash joinery, terrazzo tiles and metal balustrades. Windows and skylights wash the rooms with natural light while curved elements, including a railing that wraps around the staircase, soften the overall aesthetic.

Fletcher Crane Architects was established in 2010 in Kingston upon Thames by Toby Fletcher and Ian Crane. The studio's previous work includes a house built on an infill site beneath a high-rise building near London's Hyde Park.

Elsewhere in London, local studio Phillips Tracey Architects also created a compact brick house on the site of a former garage.

The photography is by Lorenzo Zandri and the video is by Ben Tynegate. 

Project credits:

Architect: Fletcher Crane Architects
Contractor: Project 1 Design + Build

Structural engineer: MDA Structures

Approved inspector: MLM
SAP Consultant Surrey Energy Management

Joinery: Bee9, Holte, Creative Edge Furniture

Metalwork: AF Metalwork Fabrication

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Fletcher Crane Architects has designed The Water Gardens Pod, a three-bedroom house below a seventeen-storey high-rise on the Water Gardens estate near Hyde Park, London.

The infill development was commissioned by charity institution The Church Commissioners, the owner of the estate, which was designed in 1966 as luxury residences.

Fletcher Crane Architects fitted out an existing office in the high-rise itself as the main kitchen and living space, wrapped it in glass and connected it to the new pod through a glass link.

The pod, which together with the glass link measures 74 square metres, holds three bedrooms and three bathrooms and is made from cross-laminated timber (CLT) with a tiled exterior.

"The scheme was conceived as a very simple addition to the existing context," Fletcher Crane Architects director Toby Fletcher told Dezeen.

"It's as if excavated from the tower block and consequentially may not be identified as being a new build addition to a passer-by," he added.

"Only upon closer inspection, the inward aspect scheme facing the Water Gardens becomes more apparent."

Water Gardens Pod's southern-facing facade is glazed and faces the semi-private water gardens, for which the estate is named. The monolithic north and street-facing sides of the building were given smaller openings.

The Water Gardens estate is fully occupied, which posed a challenge when the pod was being constructed.

"Hence, the choice of CLT, where the speed of construction and off-site fabrication significantly sped up the construction process over traditional methodologies," Fletcher said.

The shape of the new build was taken directly from the existing high-rise, making it seem like it had been "pulled" from the adjacent tower. The studio also took into account the view from the flats above the pod.

"A key aspect considered was overlooking; primarily from above so the fifth elevation had to be carefully considered and composed," Fletcher said. "For residents above, they now have a significantly improved amenity to look out over."

Pale grey mosaic tiles were chosen for the exterior of the pod to connect it with the existing building, which has identical small-format tiles but in white and dark grey.

The colour variation differentiates the pod structure but still ties it to the original design of the Water Gardens tower block.

Inside, the CLT was left bare to limit the use of cementitious or plaster-based products.

Fletcher Crane Architects chose to work with the material not just because it has a lower carbon footprint than steel or concrete, but also for its biophilic qualities.

"Research suggests CLT has benefits to human health and wellbeing thanks to better air quality and acoustic quality," Fletcher explained. "Also biophilia means people who just like being around wood!"

A grass sedum garden on the roof contributes both biodiverse planting and insulating properties.

"The Water Gardens Pod represents how a forgotten space can be utilised in a highly engaging way and simultaneously contributes towards the number of new homes in London – without utilising greenfield land," Fletcher said.

"This is a brownfield site; and this kind of location and opportunity can be – and must be – utilised more as a solution to a variety of social and sustainable dilemmas over the coming decades."

Spanish studio Husos Arquitectos also recently created a modern flat inside a 1960s apartment building, while Bloco Arquitetos added translucent glass walls to a flat in a concrete apartment block from the same period.

Photography is by Ståle Eriksen.

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British studio Fletcher Crane Architects have won a competition to design a waterside office building on the river Aire in Leeds, UK.

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The new building at 36 The Calls will also act as a support hub for small local businesses, offering business facilities and meeting places.

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Fins covering the facade will create the impression of a solid block when viewed along the narrow street, in keeping with the surrounding industrial buildings, but open up to the river from inside.

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Incorporating the adjacent existing building 38 The Calls, the site will step down from the street side allowing for cafes and meeting areas by the water's edge.

See also: Entry for 36 The Calls by Davide Marchetti Architetto (February 2010)

Here's some more information from Fletcher Crane Architects:

Introduction

• ‘The Loom’ is the apparatus for weaving strands of local business into a collective.
• Unique and distinctive building.
• Integrated, innovative structural solution and sculptural form.
• Using local context as building generator.
• Glorification of post-industrial buildings.

Commentary

The design approach will enable the scheme to have iconic status both locally and throughout Yorkshire giving local business’ a wider presence throughout the region. The proposed waterfront cafe on site, along with the retention of the existing restaurant will complement the business hub providing an alternative venue for meeting, networking and relaxing. Opening up the water front will provide a destination and meeting place for Leeds, attracting people to the area and facilitating exposure for the local business’.

The initial brief called for an iconic building, and delivering a commercially viable scheme that was able to meet that criteria whilst responding to the city urban design agenda, historic context presented a great challenge. The proposed scheme has been carefully developed to be appropriate to the site, but also be uniquely crafted, providing a presence at local, regional and national level.

The proposals look to marry the external architecture with that of the interior environment, making the most of the fantastic site and location whilst providing the best possible working environment for the buildings owners and occupiers. The design sets out to be environmentally and socially sustainable whilst creating prime office space within a format that is efficient yet flexible.

The building design aims to deliver a dramatic river front facade, utilising the expanse of the river and adjacent sheer faced wharf buildings of the south bank as a canvas. The proposal responds to the immediate vernacular, whereby the structural form continues the subtle contortion of the Calls wharf side roofscape.

Recognising that the local area was made up of many small businesses, often in sub divided premises, the proposals seek to provide a section of the building as a local business support hub and business / social meeting space. The intention is that by providing a visual focus to the area local businesses will be able to utilize the premises for networking, entertaining and improved identity.

One of the key aspects of the proposal is to deliver a fantastic new public space for the city, a place that will provide extended use throughout the day beyond that of a conventional office development. In section the level changes from the street level through to riverside provide an opportunity to allow the proposed open space to be lower and therefore more immediate to the river, allowing the public to engage with and touch the water - something currently lacking with the Calls.

The counterpoint to the open river front is the street facade. Working from the same rigorous grid layout two very different experiences are generated by the street facade. Deep columns reach down to the ground vertically, opening up on three grid lines at the various entrances to the building and river frontage. When approaching the building obliquely along the tight historic streets of the Calls the envelope appears as a solid form, in keeping with the masonry construction prevalent to the Calls. Once upon the building the arrangement of the columns will open up to provide tantalizing glimpses of the public space and river beyond.

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The proposed new public space will provide the area with a unique and distinctive meeting place for the city. It will be a place to shelter from the cold during the winter months and bask during the summertime. It will be a philanthropic gesture to the city, reflecting the numerous delightful bustling arcades that can be found in the historic shopping district. One of the delightful attributes that this external space will acquire is the play and dance of light on the under side of the river front facade delivering a true connection with the building, surroundings and the elements.

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Internally the aesthetic is intrinsically linked to the external structure and architectural form. The columns are laid out on a typical commercial grid dimension and, because of the scale and massing of the building, you are always aware of the morphing structure. The top floors of the proposal will afford the opportunity for a fantastic contemporary space. a real synergy of structure, light and views, a combination that sets out to deliver premium office space, meeting rooms, board rooms or break-out spaces.

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At the transition between the new and retained buildings the proposals adopt a light touch to preserve the integrity of the existing wharf building. Elements such as the huge signage will be retained in situ, becoming a bold part of the interior design. The construction of the extant wharf building will allow the richness of materiality to be explored and will deliver a contrast between the two sides of the development.

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Concept

• Vertical continual street frontage, echoing the surrounding context.
• Provides a duality between solid and permeable form.
• Creates a synergy of old and new materiality.
• Morphing Form that repairs the historic urban fabric.
• Respecting local views and key city vistas.
• Provides access to the city waterfront.

Commercial Viability

• Efficient “doughnut” typical floor plates incorporating both the new build and No. 38 The Calls with one central core
• Innovative external structural solution allows for a column free office floor plate in the new building
• Multi tenant occupancy can be achieved on a floor by floor basis or by splitting the floors into two different demises
• Differing floor plate sizes (Approx. 2000sqft to 7250sqft) provide a range of letting opportunities,
• Communal core areas allow for business’ of all sizes with shared tea points, printing, meeting and reception facilities
• 1.5m planning grid for maximum flexibility
• Approx 85%+ nett internal area to gross external area ratio provided by the “doughnut” floor plate.
• Efficient Wall to floor ratio.
• Utilising one entrance for both the new and existing buildings

Sustainability

• Creating a vehicle to help make the wider business community more sustainable
• Supporting local business’ encourages the community to use local facilities and resources
• Central recycling and resource point for local business.
• Integrating environmental considerations into an innovative design solution
• Full height glazing provides a naturally lit workspace
• Structural members act as deep mullions providing natural shading and reducing solar gain and glare. The thermal mass of the exposed concrete soffits to provide passive night time cooling
• Displacement ventilation system via floor plenum with exhaust air extracted at high level.
• On site parking spaces omitted in lieu of service pull in, increased ground floor public space and cycle parking provision.
• Grey water recycling and low flow sanitary ware
• PV arrays on south facing roof.
• Canal water heat exchange
• Micro generation water turbines

Planning Viability

• Size and form knits together adjacent building heights whilst also preserving the view of the Parish Church from Leeds Bridge.
• The material of the structure utilised as a contemporary use of an industrial material linking it with the local history.
• The proposal will provide a visible platform to promote neighbourhood business’ to the wider community encouraging local providence
• Association with the business support centre would provide local business’ with a level of social, intellectual and commercial support which is otherwise restricted in an insular environment

Architectural Team: Fletcher Crane Architects: Toby Fletcher, Ian Crane and Sam Stevens
Structural Engineer: Elliott Wood: Gary Elliott, George Georgiou
Building Environment and Services Engineer: Skelly and Couch: Mark Skelly, Matthew Chantzidakis
Quantity Surveyor: Quantem Consulting: Dan Watson
Landscape Architects: Whitelaw Turkington: Ian Turkington

See also:

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36 The Calls by Davide Marchetti Architetto	Museo del Agua by MID Estudio	More architecture stories

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