GROVES NATCHEVA ARCHITECTS Selected Works 2000 - 2015
GROVES NATCHEVA ARCHITECTS Selected Works 2000 - 2015
Adriana Natcheva & Murray Groves
CONTENTS Preface
7
Introduction
11
Private Residential The Zog House, Queen’s Park, London Town House, Clapham Common, London Mews House, Central London Artist’s Studios, Kensington, London Esher House, Walton-On-Thames, Surrey New House, Fulham, London Penthouse, Notting Hill, London DJ House, Dulwich, London Maisonette, Primrose Hill, London Two Barns, Radlett, Somerset Listed House, Belgravia, London Garden Apartment, Hampstead, London
14 28 62 76 98 110 124 134 146 158 168 174
Commercial New Offices, Riverside, London Bolt Court Offices, The City, London Warren Apartments, Tulse Hill, London Cedar Mews, Geoffrey Road, London
184 190 194 206
Retail Calmia Shop & Spa, Marylebone High Street, London Calmia at Sefridges, Mayfair, London Do Shop, Soho, London
226 240 252
Artefacts Furniture & Lighting Mechanized Joinery
262 280
PREFACE by Jonathan Bell
There are many ways of making an architectural mark. A signature form, a recurrent device, a reliance on a particular material or construction method, even the structure of a plan and the sequence of spaces can become associated with a particular architect. The work of Murray Groves and Adriana Natcheva can’t be distilled into a singular device. Although their work draws strongly on the visual language, abstract forms and spatial devices of Modernism, the end result is rarely a simple reinterpretation or contemporary update. Instead, Groves Natcheva Architects have created a portfolio of many possibilities, with an innate understanding of the qualities of materials and combinations, of juxtapositions and interactions, going beyond the spatial and into the sensual realm of architecture. We live in an age of endless opportunity, visual saturation, instant availability, a plundered past, quotations, riffs, pastiches, homages, copies, imitations, duplicates, and reconstructions. Architecture has to cut a path through this cacophonous thicket of white noise and achieve a result that endures, its aims and intentions intact. It rarely works. Short term solutions proliferate, led by the bravado of elaborate form that transforms buildings into foghorns, desperately sounding their presence and importance. The demands of context – the inescapable fundamentals of design and planning – don’t favour the brave. GNA believe in bringing together context and modernity in a way that is instilled with a richness and depth that can only come from a carefully wrought process; the craft begins on the drawing board long before the first brick has been laid. The projects in this book showcase a tactile architecture, with processes that are not concealed but celebrated, and always laid bare as if to highlight the very human process of designing and building. Their use of contrasting materials – bespoke and highly crafted, or off-the-shelf and carefully placed – is paired with a strong sense of visual chiaroscuro. A GNA project revels in the juxtaposition of light and dark, whether in the combination of contrasting materials, the way surfaces overlap and levels interlock, or simply in the way in which the eye is drawn through a space by the perceived and real depths of the design.
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From their very earliest projects, such as the DJ House in East Dulwich, Groves and Natcheva have explored the elements that make up Modernism and the relationship between space, texture, surface and materials. The DJ House used galvanised steel in industrial quantities, unashamedly celebrating the tough, hard edges and the coarseness of the surface. Yet even in this raw state, there’s an appreciation of the particular qualities of the material, how it is best used and best shaped. At the point where budgets went beyond plastered walls and offthe-shelf industrial materials, this emphasis on craftsmanship and bespoke design blossomed. The waypoint is perhaps the concrete house designed for Solidspace in Queen’s Park. The Zog House revealed the possibilities of prefabrication, while still retaining the bespoke touch. This approach is very much evident in the ways in which the coarse large-scale panels of the prefabricated core interact with the joinery, stonework and different surface finishes. The juxtapositions are never forced but also never concealed, revealing the studio’s interest in exploring contrast and difference. Subsequent work has elaborated upon the proto-Modernist reliance on craftsmanship, the point at which Arts & Crafts virtuosity intersected with Modern Movement sensibilities, epitomised by Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Willow Tea Rooms (1904), Adolf Loos’s American Bar in Vienna (1908), or Josef Hoffmann’s Palais Stoclet (1911). The Town House in South London has a Loosian fascination with the ornamental possibilities of surface and material, tempering the combination of bronze, brass and an array of deeply veined marbles with sharp forms and precise detailing. This adept deployment of ostentatious materials and layered, multi-spaces goes against contemporary architecture’s established set of devices for maximising light at the expense of spatial theatrics and drama. Even when the studio deploys a conventionally ‘modern’ palette of white walls and minimal detailing, the sculptural and spatial opportunities are still explored to the full. The Calmia boutique on Marylebone High Street was one of the practice’s first experiences of a large-scale commercial job, with a client that embraced an experimental approach. The result was a landscape carved out of a repurposed industrial new material, transforming the retail environment into a complex spatial experience that was complemented by the dark, mysterious cells of the treatment rooms. Their residential work is tempered by a desire to improve the spatial quality at every level. Two large-scale developments in South London, Cedar Mews and Warren Apartments, demonstrate that Groves and Natcheva can work wonders with strict budgets without compromising the rigour of the forms. In part, this is down to the clever application of craft where it is most prominent; the ribbed wooden façade of Cedar Mews, for example, or the precisely organised glazed brick courses that give Warren Apartments such a bold character. Groves Natcheva’s architecture is based on context and the demands of the client. This client-driven approach promises a future of endless possibilities: no two projects are the same. The studio rejects a signature style in favour of a signature approach. The underlying intelligence of every project is just as integral as the geometry or plan. The work of Groves Natcheva celebrates diversity, purpose and pleasure, without compromising the diversity of space or sacrificing the importance of function.
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INTRODUCTION by Adriana Natcheva & Murray Groves
Architecture sits uneasily in the world of design. A building is not an artefact, instrument, or garment yet it is contemplated, used and in a sense, worn. Contemporary architecture stumbles from one to another of this plurality of aspects, never sure to which it ought to cleave hardest, pulled this way and that by the prevailing fashion. Some architects bend materials to their own ideas, others let their ideas be bent by materials: either way they coerce the subject into a simplicity of their own making, subjugated to the architect’s will or talent, whichever happens to be in greater credit. We take a different approach. For us, architecture must have the richness of the life it encloses: no more and no less. Just as life is polymorphous - in the philosophical jargon - so must architecture be. It is no more than life reducible to any set of abstractions, no more one thing or another. Done well, it leaves all ‘-isms’ at the door, calls on no general principles, answers with no stock phrases. Its solutions are local, whether globally admired or not, tailored to specifics, to a here and now however long or short that might last. And, crucially, it belongs to someone other than its author, for it must be part of the people who inhabit it or else it becomes just a stage, turning the life of its occupants into a reality show without an audience. It is the client’s identity - not ours - that should be embodied in their building, the organizing intelligence should stay below the surface.
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Private Residential The Zog House, Queen’s Park, London Town House, Clapham Common, London Mews House, Central London Artist’s Studios, Kensington, London Esher House, Walton-On-Thames, Surrey New House, Fulham, London Penthouse, Notting Hill, London DJ House, Dulwich, London Maisonette, Primrose Hill, London Two Barns, Radlett, Somerset Listed House, Belgravia, London Garden Apartment, Hampstead, London
The Zog House Queen’s Park, London, UK
What A bespoke pre-fabricated house. Why Contemporary open-plan living redefined. How Two interlocking cubes are sunken into the ground, their shape and scale informed by their suburban environment and internal volumes. A mix of white render and contrasting dark metal panels emphasise the architectural rhythm of the street and sit the house sympathetically within the Victorian terrace. Inside, the building opens up to reveal a series of vertically and horizontally interconnected open spaces, which unfold around a triple-height staircase at its centre. The house is inhabited vertically as one large open-plan volume; nearness is felt but never imposed. Pre-fabricated concrete is used for its plasticity and economy. It is left raw and exposed throughout, revealing the construction of the house. Concrete panels reach out to the boundaries, forming courtyards, which are read as part of the interior. Polished plaster and timber punctuate the raw materials inside, bringing warmth to the industrial palette.
far right: living room prior to occupation
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section
ground floor plan
16
living room view of kitchen below & study above pre-cast concrete
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Donaldson Road facade powder-coated aluminium glass, concrete & render
view looking up from basement courtyard powder-coated aluminium, glass, concrete & render
kitchen courtyard stairs leading down to study
22
basement courtyard detail of garden retaining walls
23
kitchen courtyard stairs down from street level to rear courtyard
study open to living room below pre-cast concrete oak & painted plaster
26
study concrete, plaster & wood detail
27
Town House Clapham Common, London, UK
What A portrait of a family in the shape of a five-storey town house. Why Architecture, interior and product design by an architect, let loose inside a client’s imagination. How The house is built within the confines of a Regency terrace. Externally the architecture remains anonymous, to reflect the discreet place the family wishes to hold in the city. Within, a unique story is told through every tool at the disposal of an architect, from the global orientation of space and light, to the careful sourcing of materials and the bespoke design of every detail the hand touches, the eye sees and the ear hears underfoot. The drama begins with the insertion of an oval doubleheight dome in the centre of the house, which disrupts the modular structure of the regency building and sets a radically different tone of habitation. The orientation of the home is no longer front to back, up and down, but is centred in the round where two floors of living space converge, free of the typical hierarchy. The drama continues with the integration of the garden into the house. Layered in terraces, the garden is designed in the
same language, material and detail as the interiors at the rear of the house, which in turn are designed to extend the exterior feel of the garden inside. This sense of seamless continuity with the outdoors is another radical departure from the traditional character of the building and a defining element of this family home. The architecture forms the base frame which connects each of the spaces, as they build up a picture of the family through the different atmospheres created in each room. The choice of material, texture, level of polish, pattern, colour and veneer orientation are subjugated to the mood that is created for each space. Light fittings are made bespoke for different places to give a precise type of light required to offset the materials chosen. Furniture, handrails, light switches and door handles are designed to carry the language of the architecture through to the everyday objects that the family interact with.
far right: dining room - bespoke table: backlit onyx & mahogany top, antiqued mirror & mahogany base
28
section
ground floor plan
30
entrance hall antico bianco marble gold leaf alcove Cuban mahogany joinery bronze, brass & mahogany balustrade fibrous plaster dome bronze underside to stair
31
entrance hall antico bianco marble, gold leaf alcove bronze, brass & mahogany balustrade bronze underside to stair 1930’s Murano glass chandelier by Venini Cuban mahogany doors & bespoke bronze door handles fibrous plaster dome
entrance hall bespoke bronze, brass & mahogany newel post
34
lower level domed entrance hall fibrous plaster dome antico bianco marble Cuban mahogany doors bronze & mahogany balustrade
35
living room Patagonian ebony floor Cuban mahogany doors laquered walls bespoke Murano glass light fittings 1930’s Murano glass chandelier by Venini through doorway
dining room Cuban mahogany joinery imperial gold marble & ebony floor nero marquina marble fireplace bronze speakers, ceiling lights & light switches bespoke hand-blown Murano glass & silk chandelier by Barovier & Toso bespoke dining table: backlit onyx, antiqued mirror & mahogany
guest cloakroom onice nuvolato onyx hand-blown Murano glass light by Venini
40
garden room verde fantastico marble Cuban mahogany joinery hand-antiqued mirror & mahogany Murano glass light fittings by Venini
41
garden room mechanised joinery with concealed drinks bar shown in closed position hand-antiqued mirror & mahogany Murano glass light fittings by Venini on mirror Cuban mahogany ceiling verde fantastico marble Patagonian ebony parquet
view out to garden leather finish Brazilian greenland marble frameless sliding glass screens mahogany window surround Patagonian ebony floor externally: leather finish Brazilian greenland marble bronze & brass drinks bar & balustrade walk-on-glass skylights to pool below
garden bronze & brass balustrade detail
46
garden leather finish Brazilian greenland marble bronze & brass water feature
47
garden & view towards garden room leather finish Brazilian greenland marble bespoke bronze & brass balustrade frameless sliding glass screens walk-on-glass skylights to pool below bronze & brass water feature
swimming pool below garden verde marina marble walk-on-glass skylights to garden above chrome shower & satin stainless steel ladder
family cloakroom Chilean lapis blue premium marble in mahogany frame black granite fireplace hand blown Murano glass lights by Barovier & Toso
52
his study en-suite cloakroom Cuban mahogany joinery Patagonian ebony floor cappuccino vein cut marble white china sink
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master bathroom Italian calcatta viola marble Cuban mahogany joinery Patagonian ebony floor Dornbracht taps in nickel bespoke Murano glass lights by Barovier & Toso
master bedrooom suite Cuban mahogany joinery bespoke bronze door handles Patagonian ebony floor hand-blown Venitian lights by Venini mahogany, silk & linen window treatment
56
entrance to dressing room Patagonian ebony floor gold leaf alcove & door bronze & mahogany balustrade
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his study Cuban mahogany joinery, bespoke bronze door handles Patagonian ebony parquet, blackened steel fireplace bespoke study desk Cappuccino vein cut marble, mahogany, bronze & steel
his study Cuban mahogany ceiling joinery & bronze light
Mews House Central London, UK
What A lateral conversion of two houses into a contemporary dwelling. Why An architecture of simplicity coexistent with hypertechnological capability. How This work answers an oft-posed architectural question: how to create an atmosphere of calm and repose, while integrating all the technologies of a contemporary building. To escape the tyranny of the paraphernalia that inevitably finds its way into a contemporary house entertainment, security, temperature, lighting moderating systems etc. - we must consider their inevitable presence at the outset so as to create an architecture that will not be deformed post factum. This is particularly true of a minimalist interior cast in a restrained palette, where any small detail can change the mood of the space. Hiding this technology within the body of the building is not enough. We go further, to make it not only invisible, but integrated into spaces designed and detailed so as to be free of any suggestion of such inbuilt capability, giving them an easy, inevitable repose. A dining room transformable into a state-of-the-art video conference hub at the touch of a button discloses none of its hidden powers to the naive eye, which sees only the charm of a dark oak veneer reflecting the light cast onto a mirrored wall.
far right: limestone staircase, blackened steel & mahogany balustrade
62
front elevation
64
dining room silver hand-antiqued mirror antiqued French oak floor
65
living room & dining room antiqued French oak floor limestone fireplace stained oak joinery antiqued silver ironmongery bespoke furniture by Christian Liaigre
dining room antiqued French oak floor stained oak table & hand-antiqued mirrored screens with inbuilt state-of-the-art video conference capabilities shown here in concealed mode chairs by Christian Liaigre
living room antiqued French oak floor artwork on canvas to mechanised joinery wall with concealed cinema screen furniture by Christian Liaigre
above: lounge & master bedroom below: gym with mirror-faced cinema screen
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above: master bathroom below left: view into master bathroom below right: bespoke antiqued silver door knob
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kitchen bespoke joinery: satin stainless steel spray-painted wood & distressed oak top Gaggenau appliances antiqued French oak floor
Artist’s Studios Kensington, London, UK
What Two artist’s studios. Why Architecture as Haiku. How The perfect home - no matter its size - contains nothing more and nothing less than the entire universe. Two different studio spaces, carved within identical volumes, provide us the opportunity to show what such perfection might look like. The black studio accretes around a cube volume. A bronze ceiling, midnight green brick walls, a brown ebony floor and black lacquered screens, viewed by daylight from a mahogany framed window that opens a stage where the players — objects and people — become the focal points of the space, the architecture disappearing into the background. A series of utility spaces - kitchen, bedroom and bathroom - orbit around the cube. The white studio contains all spaces of a home in one, not in an open-plan fashion, but in a theatre-like temporal dimension. Black lacquered walls move to turn the single volume in turn into a kitchen, a dressing room or a living room. A ladder and a staircase lead the way to a library and a bedroom which, when inhabited, contain the whole space, as a tree-house contains the whole forest.
far right: Black Studio - painted brickwork, Patagonian ebony floor & antique Murano glass chandelier by Venini
76
first floor plan
ground floor plan white studio
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black studio
Black Studio: kitchen torched oak & steel drop-down table galvanised metal ship light
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Black Studio: living room painted brickwork Patagonian ebony floor mahogany window & shutters
Black Studio: living room black lacquered sliding screens Patagonian ebony floor & staircase customised Vitsoe shelving system
Black Studio: living room black lacquered sliding screens Patagonian ebony staircase customised Vitsoe shelving system
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Black Studio: living room painted bricks Patagonian ebony floor customised Vitsoe shelving system
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Black Studio: master bathroom calcatta viola marble white porcelain tiles
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Black Studio: master bedroom mahogany joinery blue-black plaster walls
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White Studio: living room antique Murano glass chandelier by Venini mahogany joinery Patagonian ebony floor
White Studio: dining area & kitchen Carlo Scarpa light fitting by Venini Danish mahogany table & chairs nero portoro extra marble Patagonian ebony floor & stair black lacquered sliding screens
White Studio: kitchen nero portoro extra marble Patagonian ebony floor & stair black lacquered sliding screens
92
White Studio: master bathroom black & white ceramic mosaic galvanised metal ship light
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White Studio: bedroom leather floor & plaster walls kitchen below
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White Studio: living room library above black lacquered sliding screens bespoke blackened steel ladder Patagonian ebony floor
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White Studio: kitchen detail nero portoro extra marble black lacquered sliding screens blackened steel ironmongery
Esher House Franklyn Road, Walton-On-Thames, Surrey, UK
What A new house with(in) a garden. Why Architecture mirroring a garden. How A man fell in love with a garden and commissioned a house within its grounds. Conceived as an L-shaped plan, the house forms an enclosed courtyard with the existing landscape. A blue brick tower with a corner window greets the visitor on arrival. Upon turning the corner, the stark solidity of the brick falls away to glazed walls, offering views into the private world of the house. A single-storey wing stretches out to the south west, revealing bedrooms, kitchen and dining room. The living area sits within the tower’s double height volume, a study space up on high overlooking the garden. Blue bricks and sapele timber are chosen for the facade to complement the green of the landscape beyond. Insitu concrete walls are used to provide continuity between external and internal walls. Internally, concrete and timber structures are left exposed to reveal the construction of the house and give the interiors a sense of temporality. A smooth polished concrete floor and fine timber joinery are chosen to soften the spaces and age gently over time, revealing the patina of human habitation.
far right: blue brick & sapele timber window detail
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long section
ground floor plan
100
corner window detail blue brick & sapele timber
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view from street blue brick, sapele timber, shuttered concrete & exposed timber rafters
view from living room towards bedroom courtyards polished concrete floor shuttered concrete walls sliding sapele timber screens exposed timber rafters
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view from bedroom courtyards towards living room shuttered concrete walls sliding sapele timber screens exposed timber rafters
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bedroom courtyard walls shuttered concrete & exposed timber rafters
view of living room & bedroom courtyards blue brick, sliding sapele timber screens shuttered concrete walls & exposed timber rafters
New House Fulham, London, UK
What A contemporary house in Fulham. Why Tradition was new, once. How Building a new house on an empty urban plot within a traditional street in Central London requires the answer to this question first - why should we give it a contemporary face? The Victorians chose not to build here. Perhaps they lacked the architectural language to craft one in this space as they would have liked, perhaps there was simply no need for it. Either way, a century and a half later, we face a gap in the urban fabric, to be filled with architecture articulated in the present. Tradition then was to build in the image of one’s own time, is it not now? Of course, the plurality of aesthetics which contemporary architecture embraces reflects our society’s lack of collective consensus on the idea of beauty. Unable to lean on a shorthand of symbols, we have the freedom but also the duty to search for a common ground of the human spirit, independently in each and every new building. Perhaps there will be a future for which this will be tradition.
far right: street facade - Sto render & powder-coated aliminium
110
section
ground floor plan
112
side view Sto render & powder-coated aliminium mild steel balustrade
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side view over sunken courtyard Sto render & powder-coated aluminuim mild steel balustrade
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corner detail Sto render & powder-coated aluminuim
115
entrance to house from street Sto render & powder-coated aliminium
living room stained oak floor white plaster walls skylight detail
entrance
eview of rooflight above staircase
living room detail stained oak floor white plaster walls
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staircase leading to courtyard garden with skylight above
121
view looking up from courtyard garden Sto render & powder-coated aluminuim mild steel balustrade
122
sunken courtyard garden Sto render & powder-coated aluminuim mild steel balustrade
123
Penthouse Notting Hill, London, UK
What A two storey penthouse for a film director. Why Architecture as (inhabited) sculpture. How The topography of the apartment is simple. A secluded area is assigned to a private master bedroom suite. The rest of the space, spread over two floors, is conceived as a white box. Within the box a single sculptural form delineates three volumes. Each volume is interchangeable. Every vertical surface can hold a film projection. A dark timber monochrome floor sets a dramatic contrast to the sculptural form, both visual and sensual. The dark surface creates the perfect backdrop to make the form visible. It also provides a grounding level surface which remains constant against the subtle shades of white, which change the space at every turn. Sculpture and ground is then inhabited. First, with spare architectural elements - a staircase, a water tap and hob, a fireplace. Then, with the client’s possessions - cooking utensils on a wall demarcate the kitchen, books within an open space mark the library, a wooden table calls up the dining room, a sofa, the living room. There is a lightness of touch in this interior, open to change with each new film projected onto a wall, with the simple move of a chair.
far right: doorway to bedroom - mahogany & white plaster
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top floor plan
entrance floor plan
126
living room mahogany staircase & floor white plaster walls
127
kitchen detail white plaster walls magnets, knives & utensils
dining room balustrade detail mahogany staircase & floor white plaster walls
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view from top of stairs across dining room & down into living room mahogany staircase & floor white plaster walls
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kitchen white matt lacquer joinery polished stainless steel worktop white plaster walls & mahogany floor
DJ House Dulwich, London, UK
What Transforming a building into a house for a DJ. Why New identity within a familiar frame. How A young man wanted a live/work space injecting the energy and cool of his music career into a building rooted in the time of his childhood. What of the building to retain and what to create anew becomes paramount, as it directs the delicate balance between past and future. The space is entered at first floor level from the rear, occupying the top three floors of the existing building. A ground floor pharmacy on the main street is left untouched. An oversized galvanised steel staircase forms a dramatic entrance evocative of back-of-house-cool. Inside, a central double-height volume with a DJ deck balcony is the only architectural disruption to the cellular organisation of the building, otherwise left intact. Original fireplaces and sash windows are framed by crisp new lines and museum-like lighting.
far right: galvanised steel entrance stair
134
section
ground floor plan
136
entrance galvanised steel stair at rear
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entrance stair galvanised steel
double-height living room window over entrance painted floorboards white plaster walls black granite fireplace
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upper & lower living rooms above: view across double-height living room below: view up from lower living room
141
upper living room view towards main staircase painted floor boards white plaster walls linen day bed original fireplace
upper living room overlooking double-height living room white plaster walls original fireplace
Garden Maisonette Primrose Hill, London, UK
What A bachelor pad. Why Because you do not have to worry about sharp corners. How Milk glass encased in black metal opens to a transparent floor revealing a library underfoot. Raw concrete steps lead to a sunken garden. A bed is framed in grey silk. An oak desk is level with a stretch of grass. What else does a man need?
far right: sunken courtyard garden - concrete & powder-coated aluminium
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lower ground floor plan
ground floor plan
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entrance door powder-coated aluminium & milk glass
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library sunken courtyard level glass floor to dining room above silk curtain to bedroom & courtyard beyond
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entrance level view into dining room glass floor over library below
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sunken courtyard garden concrete & powder-coated aluminium
above: master bedroom below: courtyard garden concrete detail
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study bespoke oak desk detail
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upper terrace powder-coated aluminium planters & timber decking detail
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garden facade view into dining room above & bedroom below render, powder-coated aluminium & glass
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Two Barns Radlett, Somerset, UK
What Two barns in an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Why Inhabiting new parts of the English countryside. How The commission was to secure planning for two homes within an area of strict government restrictions on building. The land is isolated, dotted with farm outbuildings. The success of the project rested on the careful adaptation of outbuildings into habitable structures, sitting easily in the landscape. The structures are re-built anew using local materials and incorporating key features of the original layout. The orientation and fragmented plan of the structures is retained. Spine walls in heavy sandstone form the primary walls, as they often do in farm buildings. In place of the typical open sides of the enclosures, large panes of glass are inserted behind timber columns, preserving from afar the original look of the buildings within the landscape. When inhabited, the two new barns offer the rustic solace of a traditional barn with the open-plan feel of a contemporary house. Heavy stone walls, rough oak columns and exposed timber structure on the ceilings give the interiors a traditional aspect. Yet large sliding glass panes cast light deep into the spaces, opening anew into the landscape beyond.
far right: three-way mitre joint oak detail
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first floor plan
ground floor plan
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above: original oak structure below: new oak framed glazed walkway
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exterior view oak, local sandstone & Roman pantile
exterior view oak, Roman pantile & timber decking
exterior views top: oak, local sandstone & Roman pantile left: slot window detail right: sandstone detail
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exterior view oak, glazing & roof tile detail
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Listed House Belgravia, London, UK
What The restoration and conversion of a Grade II* listed house. Why The reincarnation of architectural ghosts. How There are certain buildings in the United Kingdom over which the government has special rights. They are the listed buildings. Ownership bestows no right to alter. Such control extends not only to important buildings of architectural merit, or the exterior of period buildings, but even to any private interior considered a record of history. Altering the smallest detail without government permission is a criminal offence. The architect’s job, then, when a client wishes to inhabit and modernise a listed house, is to remain invisible in the artistic sense. The restoring architect is not the author of the work; as the intervention is invisible, so should be any claim to it. Permission is sometimes granted for additions to a listed building. Such work ought to be clearly contemporary if we are to follow faithfully the government’s quest for historical accuracy. The library in Belgravia shown here is one such example.
far right: library - French oak & milk glass
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section
library
lower ground floor plan
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entrance door to library French oak & milk glass
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library French oak & milk glass sliding screens oak joinery & oak floor
Garden Apartment Hampstead, London, UK
What Extension and conversion of a garden flat. Why Two small moves, one big change. How The occasion of a simple rear extension is exploited radically to reconfigure the entire space and orientation of a one-bedroom garden flat. The typical topology of an apartment is reversed - the living spaces are open to the garden at the rear, the bedroom is secluded at the front. Four identical vaults are created in the ceiling, hiding the structure of the extension, which otherwise would only express an arbitrary distinction between old and new. The vaults are used to articulate the space as one, while gently suggesting four different areas - sitting room, dining room, kitchen and study. Four sliding screens follow the cross structure at the base of the vaults. When folded, the screens remain hidden. Independent of each other, when open they partition the space in a multitude of combinations - each of the four spaces can be combined with any other or occupied by itself. No boundary between original and extended, old and new, is sensible: the functional separations run orthogonal to the historical.
far right: study with view out to garden - waxed oak floor, plaster walls
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section
ground floor plan
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dining area waxed oak floor & plaster walls
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living room view through to kitchen & study painted timber sliding screens waxed oak floor blue limestone fireplace
kitchen & study area stainless steel kitchen island painted timber sliding screens waxed oak floor crittal doors
Commercial New Offices, Riverside, London Bolt Court Offices, The City, London Warren Apartments, Tulse Hill, London Cedar Mews, Geoffrey Road, London
New Offices Riverside, London, UK
What Office spaces by the river. Why Creating a contemporary work hub with a distinct identity. How The commission is to create a suite of eight self-contained offices within the shell of an existing building. The architecture of the interior is required to do two things: to provide the optimum proportion for each individual space and to create a strong identity for the work hub. The eight spaces are set on an orthogonal grid, each open to views of the river. To carry light into the deep plan, galvanised metal tiles are laid on the floor and the walls to the interior communal spaces are erected in glass block. An industrial tone congruent with the riverside location is chosen for the interior. Concrete ceilings and walls are left bare. A decision is made to leave all services exposed and use their utilitarian aesthetic to add to the industrial character of the space - carefully positioned galvanised metal wire trunking, exposed metal air ducts, face-fixed light fittings and metal trays traverse the walls and ceilings of the space. Bold, large lettering is applied to each studio door. The compound effect is a collection of spaces of strong identity, which still leaves room for personalisation.
far right: entrance door to studio 3
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section
office plan
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main corridor glass block wall exposed metal service trays galvanised metal tile floor
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open plan office space exposed concrete ceiling metal service trays & cooling kit galvanised metal tile floor white plasterboard & exposed concrete walls
Bolt Court Offices The City, London, UK
What Refurbishment of an office block in the City of London. Why The architecture of incognito affluence. How The commission is to refurbish a four-storey office building in the City. The entrance radiates restrained opulence, the values of the company residing within. The offices above are fashioned as anonymous open-plan serviced spaces, divulging no further information. Every choice of material, detail and furniture within the small space of the entrance is selected to create a specific image - secure, successful, global. Lacquered black joinery and polished granite floors establish a tone of solemn gravity and ease. Wood-clad walls give warmth. Midcentury furniture signals an international sensibility.
far right: main entrace to office from street - walnut & black granite joinery, walnut floor
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first floor plan
ground floor plan
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entrance space waiting area walnut & black granite joinery walnut floor
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Warren Apartments Tulse Hill, London, UK
What New residential building at the entry to Tulse Hill. Why Architecture as emblem. How The location of this commission - opposite the railway station entrance into Tulse Hill - made it imperative to consider its effect on the neighbourhood. This building has the power to be a landmark, and a synthesis of the identity of the place - past and present. A bold contemporary building sits at ease in the contrasting surroundings. A large industrial volume makes the building congruous with the railway landscape beyond. Facades articulated to echo the scale of the Victorian-era streetscape suggest an affinity within the local environment. Black and white glazed bricks echo a railway station hall, and feel good to the touch in the dense city grid. Nine flats populate the building. Designed as loft-style apartments with large metal windows embracing the urban views around, they offer a lifestyle new to the local area and necessary for its evolution. Close attention to detail and complex bricklaying with minimal margin for error are paired with bold proportions and a striking facade treatment to create a strong presence.
far right: facade onto public footpath - black & white glazed bricks
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second floor plan
first floor plan
ground floor plan
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private interior courtyard black & white glazed bricks metal framed sliding doors stainless steel external lighting
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front facade black & white glazed bricks crittal windows galvanized steel screens to top floor terraces
living room crittal windows oak floor white plaster walls
private roof terrace above: black & white glazed bricks galvanised steel privacy screens below left: crittal door detail below right: privacy screen detail
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top floor living room view onto terrace galvanised steel privacy screen crittal doors & oak floor
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facade overlooking railway black & white glazed bricks crittal windows
Cedar Mews Geoffrey Road, London, UK
What A new residential development. Why Architecture as a tool of regeneration. How A new building is erected in a careworn part of South London, with the wish to lead by example. From the street, the new development is marked by two buildings akin in scale and massing to their Victorian neighbours, but with a strikingly different attention to appearance. Meticulously crafted cedar-clad facades suggest a revived sensitivity to the things that surround us. Four maisonettes take ownership of these twin towers. The choice of material and detailing ensures an even, soft ageing of the wood, a beauty that will persist over time. Beyond, five single storey pavilions are moored, boat-like, to the boundary of adjacent gardens. A central courtyard is formed by their shapes, creating a sense of communality. In a radical departure from established form, the structures are clad in glass and flooded with light. From the sky the homes are invisible: covered in grass they blend with the gardens beyond.
far right: street facade detail - cedar cladding, render & timber framed windows
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section
ground floor plan
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street facade cedar cladding, render timber framed windows
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rear facade view from railway bridge
central courtyard rear facade of cedar structure & facade of courtyard apartments
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top floor balcony cedar cladding cedar frame structure to windows galvanized steel balustrade
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private courtyard view through to central courtyard beyond granite cobble stones metal framed glazing enclosure polished concrete floor & white plaster walls internally
courtyard apartment polished concrete floor white plaster walls
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bathroom polished concrete walls & floor white china & chrome fittings
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bedroom view through internal private courtyard polished concrete floor
central courtyard sedum roofs & granite cobbles
facade detail cedar cladding
Retail Calmia Shop & Spa, Marylebone High Street, London Calmia at Sefridges, London Do Shop, Soho, London
Calmia Shop & Spa Marylebone High Street, London, UK
What Flagship store for a new beauty and well-being company. Why Architecture as branding. How The image-making power of architecture has few rivals, fewer still in the make-believe world of beauty and fashion. Calmia charged us with creating an architectural identity unique, recognisable, expansive - to be embodied in their launch store in London. Calmia’s essence - the introduction of eastern calm to urban haste - moulds the architectural concept. The interior is an abstraction of a natural environment. The Calmia space, sculpted out of pure forms, evokes a distant cityscape from street view and an oasis-like environment within. Floating on a water-lily floor, sand-covered shapes form an organically irregular maze of masses and voids, creating a ying-yang fit of the space between product and consumer. A bazaar-like atmosphere, familiar yet unpredictable, sparks the curiosity to look, touch, try, perhaps buy. Descending into the belly of the Calmia interior, crossing a threshold from western urbanity into a space of distant exquisiteness, one finds a spa. An aura of silky repose is drawn from walls in dark pink and orange hues, floors in worn timber, and seating in polished leather, lit by candles and quasi-tropical light.
far right: spa relaxation room
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lower ground floor plan
ground floor plan
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display detail sand composite covering to sculptural display units & walls
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Marylebone High Street facade grey limestone cladding sand composite covering to sculptural display units & walls
shop interior upper level sand composite covering to sculptural display units & walls
water feature detail sand composite flower-filled basin
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tea bar detail sand composite covering to tea bar & stools silk cushions in signature Calmia colours
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spa relaxation room meditation cells painted plaster walls polished leather seating silk cushions
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spa entrance tropical light projection antiqued oak floor plaster wall in deep pink
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Marylebone High Street facade night view grey limestone cladding sand composite covering to sculptural display units & walls
Calmia at Selfridges Mayfair, London, UK
What A shop within a shop. Why Architecture as branding, continued. How Giving architectural body to a brand against a blank canvas is one thing, sustaining the same impact against a field of other brands, in immediate proximity, quite another. It is here that the strength of the original architectural concept is really tested. The idea of the interior as an abstraction of a natural environment, the rendition of this vision as a series of pure forms stacked in apparent organic irregularity, gave us freedom to adapt the layout to each new space, while keeping the unique and recognisable quality of the yingyang, maze-like, bazaar atmosphere of the Calmia interior. The sand composite material chosen to cover all interior surfaces is waterproof, allowing sculptural shapes seamlessly to morph into flower-filled basins, a tea bar, display cabinets. The signature water-lily floor, created for Calmia, is based on an individual arrangement of lilies set within layers of sheer and coloured resin.
far right: Calmia tea bar
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short elevation
long elevation
plan
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changing rooms above: bespoke liquid plastic water lily floor & bespoke tropical forest tile print below: high gloss deep pink lacquered joinery
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view from main shop floor bespoke liquid plastic water lily floor sand composite covering to sculptural display units & walls flower-filled basin
concession detail view bespoke liquid plastic water lily floor sand composite covering to sculptural display units, till, tea bar & walls flower-filled basin
shop interior bespoke liquid plastic water lily floor sand composite covering to sculptural display units & walls
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floor detail bespoke liquid plastic water lily floor
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Calmia tea bar sand composite covering to sculptural joinery
Do Shop Beak Street, Soho, London
What A new concept lifestyle store. Why This is not a stage. How The Do Shop required an image, a street presence, and an interior, to display a suite of novel, eclectic homeware and lifestyle artefacts. Our solution was to frame the contents, rather than to compete with them for centre stage. The shop floor is built as a stage over two floors, a standing curtain call. A black ceiling with exposed softwood timber and theatre lights allows dynamic display and dramatic lighting. The walls of the shop are lined with light boxes made of bleached plywood. Here, conventional expectation is regained as the merchandise is itemised, colour coordinated and priced. Two simple elements - stage and light boxes - let the products re-create a piece of the lifestyle they promote.
far right: Beak Street facade at night
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section
ground floor plan
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view to lower ground floor blackened steel balustrade polished concrete floor
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entrance level shop floor bleached plywood light boxes softwood timber frame on ceiling with specialist theatre projection lighting blackened steel balustrade polished concrete floor white lacquered till station
lower level shop floor bleached plywood light boxes softwood timber frame on ceiling with specialist theatre projection lighting polished concrete floor projection wall in specialist screen paint
Artefacts Furniture & Lighting Mechanized Joinery
Furniture & Lighting
What Bespoke architectural pieces. Why God is in the detail. How We believe the playing field of an architect stretches from global, abstract concepts to focal, idiosyncratic details. For us, there is a natural continuity between the design of a space and the design of an object within it: both establish the distinctive character of a lived environment. If we choose to place an object in a space, it is to intensify a particular atmosphere we are creating. The act of designing the object, then, is understood as a vital component of the complete work: here, detail and whole belong to each other. A door handle, for example, is the handshake of a building. Its feel, if distinctive, naturally becomes part of the sensual knowing of a home. Carved from solid bronze, measured to the hand of the owner, the piece embodies the unique ethos of the house, without which it would not exist. The same door handle on another house would be like the same face on another body. Here we radically differ from the field of product design, where each object is sought to be independent of its environment. Rather, our furniture is architecture that happens to be movable, and belongs to the immovables at least as much as it does to the owner.
far right: Town House - bespoke chandelier & dining table
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Town House chandelier hand-blown glass polished dark grey chrome body black silk cloth designed in collaboration with & executed by Barovier & Toso, Venice Town House dining table backlit onyx & mahogany top antiqued mirror & mahogany base
light fitting hand-blown grey glass polished dark grey chrome body black silk cloth designed in collaboration with & executed by Barrovier & Toso, Venice dining table backlit ivory, onyx & mahogany top antiqued mirror & mahogany base integrated lighting
Town House desk cappuccino vein cut marble bronze, steel & mahogany frame copper paper tray
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Town House kitchen table grande fossil marble top mahogany framing
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Groves Natcheva Architects studio table torched douglas fir top hot-rolled mild steel structure with magnetic connections
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Groves Natcheva Architects’ studio table torched solid cedar top hot-rolled mild steel structure
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White Studio Orpheus desk hot-rolled mild steel structure waxed leather with magnetic stud connections
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Town House bathroom light crystal, blackened steel & hand-blown Murano glass executed by Barovier & Toso, Venice
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Town House door handle sculpted from solid bronze block stainless steel internal mechanism
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Town House Crestron control cover plate bronze plate with brass buttons & personalized engravings
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Mews House library folder polished leather, copper rivets aluminium spine & steel clasp
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Mechanized Joinery
What Transformable architectural pieces. Why Robotized architecture. How It’s technical.
far right: Mews House - mechanised joinery wall with concealed video screen, hand-antiqued mirror detail
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Mews House concealed state-of-the-art video conference hub stained oak table & hand-antiqued mirrored screens with inbuilt state-of-the-art video conference capabilities shown here in concealed mode
mirrored panel
mirrored panel
lifting motor
panasonic IP dome camera
conference screen
mirrored panels
lifting motor
conference screen technical drawings left: sections - screen in closed & open position right: elevations - screen in closed & open position
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conference table technical details top: joinery detail - power & data box in open position bottom: sections through table - power & data box in closed & open position
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Town House concealed drinks bar hand-antiqued mirrored screens mobilized joinery with open/closed modes operated electronically to reveal or conceal a drinks bar shown here in open position
hardwood edging
robotic arm
lower panel carried up behind upper paneling antique mirror forward panel flush with marble surround
antique mirror
foil-backed mirror lining
sink with trapped outlet
concealed drinks bar technical details top: section - head detail middle: section - mid-rail to paneling detail bottom: section - plinth detail
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softwood carcassing
antique mirror
antiqued mirror to panels on front face
antiqued mirror to moveable panels on front face
marble plinth
marble frame surround
antiqued mirror to panels on front face
glass shelf mirrored panel behind
concealed drinks bar technical drawings left: section top right: elevations - bar in closed & open position bottom right: plan
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Town House concealed drinks bar hand-antiqued mirrored screens mobilized joinery with open/closed modes operated electronically to reveal or conceal a drinks bar shown here in closed position
CREDITS editorial Edited & Co-ordinated by Groves Natcheva Architects Designed by Groves Natcheva Architects Printed by F.J. Blissetts & Co. Ltd. 2015
photography Alicia Fantozzi portrait on page 11 Ingrid Rasmussen images on pages 8, 29, 31, 32/33, 34, 35, 36/37, 38/39, 40, 41, 42/43, 44/45, 46, 47, 48/49, 50/51, 52, 53, 54/55, 56, 57, 58/59, 60/61, 111, 113, 114, 115, 116/117, 118/119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 185, 187, 188/189, 191, 193, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 286/287, 290/291 Daniel Swallow image on page 15 James Brittain images on pages 17, 18/19, 24/25 Mark O’Flaherty cover image & images on pages 22, 26, 27 Christian Couzens images on pages 63, 65, 66/67, 68/69, 70/71, 72, 73, 74/75 281, 282/283 Helenio Barbetta images on pages 77, 80/81, 85, 86, 87, 90/91, 92, 93, 94, 95 Alistair Nicholls images on pages 79, 82/83, 84, 88/89, 96/97 Groves Natcheva Architects all other images
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