Brooke Coombes Self-Build House

Burd Haward Architects, London, 2001

 

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The house in its suburban context 

Charlotte Wood (website)     Download Original

  • The house in its suburban context    
  • Compact accommodation allows room for a glazed courtyard    
  • Clay tile cladding detail    
  • The pool was a late addition instigated by the client    
  • The journey to bed involves a journey into semi-outdoor space    
  • View of the ground floor kitchen/dining/living room    
  • The steel mesh stair and mezzanine ensure that the conservatory is read as a single space    
  • The first floor corridor    
  • The architect has established a fixed storage zone which can be extended as necessary    
  • The partition walls can be removed as circumstances change    
  • Site plan    
  • Ground floor plan    
  • First floor plan    
  • Long section    
  • Environment    
  • Steel frame    
  • Timber sheathing encloses steel frame    
  • Clay-tile cladding fixed to timber sheathing    
  • The client    
  • Self-build takes advantage of all available labour    
  • The house is at the bottom of the garden of the clients    
  • Steel box sections support the conservatory glazing and provide stability to the flank wall    
  • The potting shed doubled as a site hut    
  • After the rain    
  • Detail section through roof eaves and wall    
  • Key section and eaves details    

Self-build low energy house in a conservation area in Ealing, using many key elements of the Segal Method

The house is set out on a grid and arranged according to a straightforward diagram: the accommodation is on one side of the site, and is as compact as possible, leaving room for a glazed courtyard on the other.

The two-storey, enclosed side of the house contains an open-plan kitchen/dining/living room and a study on the ground floor, and bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs. It is surrounded by thick walls to the north, east and west. The courtyard is flanked by a glazed wall to the house on one side, and a brick ‘garden wall’ to the other. It contains the staircase and a small mezzanine sitting area – both of which are galvanised steel.

The process of simplification also applies to the structural approach – the ground conditions made piles preferable to slab foundations, which suited a steel frame.

The steel frame is spanned by Masonite timber studs, enclosed in timber sheathing. This, in turn, is ‘wrapped’ with a clay-tile cladding system which is both easy to install and precise – the client was determined to avoid the ‘folksiness’ often associated with self-build.

Data

  • Begun: Sep 1999
  • Completed: 2001
  • Floor area: 203m2
  • Sectors: Residential, House
  • Total cost: £310,874
  • Tender date: Aug 1999
  • Procurement: Self-build with package procurement of specialist elements
  • Address: Ealing, London, W5, United Kingdom

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