Oxford home extension brings Gothic revival to the twenty first century

An Oxford home extension marks a departure from its historic context with an overview that evokes modernist structure, that includes, on the similar time, a particular ornamental trim. Quatrefoil Home, a venture by Cardiff-, Swansea- and Oxford-based structure studio Hyde + Hyde, is a newly redesigned household residence within the coronary heart of the North Oxford Victorian Suburb Conservation Space. The unique construction, a good-looking but in-need-of-repair early Gothic Revival 1870s home constructed by John Dover to designs by John Galpin and George Shirley, is beneficiant, and this up to date replace provides luggage of character to its already heritage-rich bones. 

Quatrefoil Home is a five-bedroom residence, together with a lower-level entertaining house, and a secluded rear backyard. At 450 sq m, it is snug in dimension, that includes a sculptural, geometric timber staircase at its coronary heart, which brings all its 4 ranges neatly collectively. The stairway additionally acts as a lightwell, bringing pure mild deep into the house’s interiors. Richly embellished inside with darkish pure timber hues, deep blue and inexperienced tones, velvet materials, a black steel hearth and heritage herringbone parquet flooring, the house’s inside matches its exterior seems to be, and feels heat and welcoming. 

On the similar time, the architects translated the unique constructing’s Gothic revival model to the trendy instances by means of its exterior design, with the façade that includes a quatrefoil tectonic tile in metal and bronze throughout the extension’s define. The tile motif is complemented by a single white concrete column that helps the home’s facet extension. It’s ‘an inverted copy of its Gothic window counterpart’, the architects clarify, ‘embedded inside the current home façade. Each components are entwined in an interaction between stable and void’.

The purchasers approve: ‘The home for us, though a wonderful mix of latest and outdated, is predominantly a cushty and enjoyable household residence,’ they are saying. ‘The dichotomy of being all collectively as a household within the coronary heart of the home and having the posh of discovering sanctuary in a secluded room, is the best asset of this transformation.’

hydearchitects.com