Fulham House
A full refurbishment and reconfiguration of an Edwardian villa including the excavation of a basement and rear garden to maximize the connectivity between old and new and the basement and ground floor.
RVN lowered the rear garden by 3 meters to emphasise a sense of connection with the new basement, significantly increasing the feeling of space on both the ground and basement floors. We tied in our planning consent with the neighbour’s side extension scheme so both properties could benefit from a squared-off parapet party wall. This enabled us to design a double-height dining room-cum-internal garden with enough headroom to locate a staircase from the kitchen to the rear of the basement. The open-plan family space was thus filled with natural light from the double height rear glazing.
We maximized the limited width of the building with slot windows and a glazed segment beneath the main staircase stringer such that from the reception you could enjoy views of the full length and breadth of the building. A secondary staircase from ground to basement at the front of the property completed the circuit and made sense of the generous new space below. The kitchen’s island unit and bar over sailed the glass balustrade – a ‘diving board’ to the dining room below, whilst a staircase handrail from ground to basement bled into a band flush with the plaster as a further connectivity solution.
All joinery was highly bespoke and RVN provided a full interior decorative service, sourcing special items of furniture and light fittings and supplying soft furnishings and decorative objects.
