The One That Got Away
In the Shape Architecture portfolio there are a number of projects which we designed, gained planning permission for but have not been built. They are nonetheless of interest demonstrating as they do a range of work and our design approach.
Here we revisit a below garden basement and orangery to a prominent Grade 2 listed house in Windsor. The property was of interest to the planning authority as it was designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon (2 March 1812 – 2 May 1873), a well-known Gothic Revival Architect and displays many of Teulon’s hallmarks, expressing clear use of polychrome brickwork and ornate form reminiscent of the Gothic Period.
The key drawing for this project and the way in which the design was conceived and further developed was the long section, connecting as it does the existing house, proposed orangery, basement and garden and also clearly illustrates how daylight can be brought into the spaces.
As with many of our projects the design started with a series of sketches and the challenge is to keep the creativity apparent in the initial sketch as the design is developed via computer modelling. We find that the exploration of the design via 3D computer modelling will always add further interest and rigour to the design and this was particularly apparent in the design of the orangery stair.
The orangery sits as a glazed interface between building and basement. Its floorplate is a leaf from which the stair peels off into the basement. All flooded with daylight from the glazed structure over the orangery. The geometry of this glazed roof is taken on into the basement by way of a curved birch faced ceiling. An exciting, elegant and integrated series of spaces have been created.
