Clydesdale House

This Light-Filled family home in South Bristol for a young couple and their three children had to work hard to satisfy the needs of the family.

The path of the sun and the silence at the rear of the site told us early on that the living should be at the back and push out to the full width of the site.

Pushing out to the boundary at the rear creates a problem where you can have an internal room trapped between the front and the rear of the house. To mitigate this we created a small lightwell courtyard that affords the centre of the plan an abundance of daylight and view and mitigates any impression of being locked deep in the centre of a long plan away from windows.

This courtyard allowed the kitchen and pantry to assume a natural fit a the centre of the plan, connected beautifully with the dining to the front and the family living to the rear, placing the preparation of meals at the heart of the family home.

At first floor, a new window was cut into the front elevation to allow the family bathroom to be moved to the front of the house and the master suite relocated to the quieter rear side. Within the loft, an L shaped extension, clad beautifully with bullnose red clay tiles, encloses Bedrooms 4 and 5, an office and another bathroom.

Technology played a large part in the remodelling with hard-wired smart lighting allowing remote control of every light in the house from your phone. Similarly, thermal performance was a key consideration throughout with all external wall surfaces either internally or externally insulated and the entire roof rebuilt to exceed regulatory insulation requirements creating a super low-energy home.

Arguably, however, the greatest feature of this delightful, exquisitely detailed and beautifully finished home, is a secret door, hidden in a bookcase, concealing the utility and downstairs WC!

Client

Private

Location

Southville, Bristol

Status

Complete

Specifics

Conservation Area

Intelligent retrofit / environmental upgrading

Hard wired Smart Lighting

Lightwell

Team