Architecture Open London - work in progress

We are delighted to have been chosen to exhibit some of our work in London this month. We are thrilled to be exhibiting amongst masters of architecture Stanton Williams and London Emerging Architect of the year vPPR. 

We have also discovered that we are the only non-London architect in the group of 34 practices!

RIBA London's Architecture Open and Pop Brixton will showcase concept drawings, sketches, models and artworks by architects in this year's London Festival of Architecture's theme "Work in Progress."

We have submitted a model of our project stair wrap, Harrogate as a discussion of how a building in itself is a work in progress.

Come see us at Pop Brixton SW9 8PQ from 6-28 June.

Another successful Planning Application in Harrogate Conservation area!

We are very excited this week as Harrogate Planning Department have approved our application for a contemporary extension to a house in Harrogate Conservation Area. This is a huge achievement and we extend our thanks to the Council for working with us.

Sketch of extension from the garden

The property forms one half of a large Victorian semidetached property. The front of the property is relatively ornate and unusual with its curved bay windows and entrance door. To the rear the property, the styling is less formal and gradually steps down in height with a mix of gable and lean-to extensions to the main house. The rear of the property has been extended in the past in the form of an unsympathetic flat roofed garage extension.

Sketch of the existing property illustrating the random nature of previous extensions

Currently, the only access to the garden is through the utility room and garage. The utility room window provides a limited view onto the garden. It was very important to our clients to change the layout of the rear ground floor rooms to improve the use of habitable accommodation within the existing property and provide a direct visual link from this main living accommodation to the garden at the rear.

  

Sketch of proposal

The contemporary element to the rear will be clad in standing seam pre-weathered black zinc. The main openings will be framed in an overhanging soffit detail which will be detailed to present as fine an edge as possible. Within this frame are set sliding glass doors with a black painted aluminium frame. Sections of vertically boarded timber panels and vertical timber slats soften the overall appearance and are layered to add depth to the elevation.

Detailed sketch of proposal

A new raised terrace continues the internal floor finish externally and extends the living space seamlessly out into the garden.

Planning permission received for extension in Harrogate conservation area

Our clients approached us to increase the size of their existing 2 bedroom house and create a 4 bedroom family home, incorporating and extending over their poorly used front entrance yard.


The site is within the Harrogate conservation area. It is an old bakery building that sits in a row of coach houses and semi industrial buildings that at one time serviced Victorian villas.


The brief was for a highly contemporary insertion between neighbouring traditional styled stone gables. Working in consultation with Harrogate planning department, the final solution was felt to be appropriate as it adds to the industrial nature of the surrounding streetscape.

The existing house

The extension inserts itself between the gables of neighbouring houses

View of semi industrial streetscape

The design was conceived as 2 elements: a single storey extension that alines with the street, provides access and a large open plan dining kitchen to the dwelling; and behind that is a 2 storey box that is parallel with the existing house.


Inspired by the soot covered stone of the surrounding buildings and the client's wish to use timber where possible to reflect his profession as a joiner, the building is predominantly clad in blackened timber with concrete inserts and zinc shadow recesses.

first floor

ground floor

The clients wish to avoid glazing to the street, inspired the inclusion of a lightwell to the new kitchen area at the junction between old and new.
 

Light floods into the new open plan kichen space from full height lightwell

doma architects' "bed-box"

We were posed a dilemna by a client recently...

The master bedroom in their house is enormous and very ornate. They want an ensuite bathroom without interferring with or cutting up the existing room. They love the "wow-factor" that you feel when walking into the room.

Our first suggestion was to put a bathroom in the adjacent bedroom and knock through. They did not want to do this as they did not want to make the adjacent bedroom smaller.

So we designed a "bed-box" that was inserted into the room. The 2metre high walls did not come any way close to touching the ceiling, so the spaciousness of the room was not interrupted.

The view of the immense bay window from the entrance is not obstructed by the insertion.

The double basin, shower and bidet are concealed behind the freestanding wall. The WC is accessed through the archway beyond.

Approvals for house extension in Harrogate received

doma architects were asked to reorganise and extend a house in Harrogate. Planning and Building Regulation approvals have now been received.

Our clients asked us to look at adding 2 bedrooms and additional living space to their 3 bedroom house. They were also unhappy with the way the house addressed the street as the main house facade faced the back garden, and the main entrance to the house was beneath an ill-considered canopy adjacent to the garage.

In order to address both of these issues, we removed the single storey lean-to that enclosed the garage and utility area and designed a 2 storey extension that used the same language as the existing house, with a pitched roof perpendicular to the existing. In addition, we designed a single storey element to house the new entrance, utility room and garage.

Diagram illustrating the constraints and possibilities of the site

Existing ground floor plan

Existing first floor plan

In order to ensure that this is seen as a cohesive part of overall design and not a disparate add-on, the single storey element of the proposals has been conceived as a ‘garden wall’ that is breached by the 2 storey pitched roof section of the design.

Proposed ground floor plan

Proposed first floor plan

Proposed elevations

External sketch of the proposal

Internally, we reorganised the ground floor spaces to form an open plan living and dining space that opens up to the garden through a large section of fully glazed opening doors.

doma architects appear in the Architects' Journal again!

We have appeared in print this week following our 3rd prize win in the Forgotten Spaces Sheffield competition. Please see below extracts from the Architects' Journal and the Yorkshire Post.

Image taken from The Architects' Journal on 30 September 2011

Extract taken from page 5 of the Yorkshire Post on 27 September 2011

doma architects win 3rd prize in RIBA ideas competition

The winners for the RIBA ideas competition "Forgotten Spaces Sheffield" were announced at a ceremony in The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Monday night. There were so many fantastic entries that we did not think we were in with a chance at all, so were more than surprised when they announced that our scheme "Food for Thought" had won 3rd prize!

As you can see from the photos below (taken by Sheffield Hallam University press office), we could not get the smiles off our faces!

Ruth and James accept their award

Ruth and James stand in front of their "Food for Thought" presentation

A big congratulations to all other winners, especially Chris Paterson for his fantastic winning entry "Guiding Lights."