A small triangular web site guided the geometric type of Butterfly Home, an accessible residence that London studio Oliver Leech Architects has added to the nook of a backyard in Surrey.
Nestled inside a compact plot on the location of an present residence, the constructing is designed as future-proof lodging for the consumer’s aged mom and a live-in carer.
Oliver Leech Architects accomplished the self-contained residence with a spread of accessible, open areas that the household hopes will facilitate impartial residing sooner or later.
“We have been requested to create an annexe to the home that the consumer’s mom may use independently,” studio director Oliver Leech instructed Dezeen.
“Nevertheless, we wished to ensure it was visually and virtually disconnected from the primary home in order that it felt actually like a brand new residence.”
Wrapping round smaller personal gardens, the angular type of Butterfly Home is dictated by the form of its web site – a nook plot on the southern tip of the backyard.
Three volumes topped with pitched roofs intersect to kind the two-bedroom home. On the outside, blackened timber cladding helps it mix into the shadows of the close by timber.
“The design emerged by response to varied web site constraints,” Leech defined.
“The splayed plan directs views away from the primary home, and avoids onlooking, as a substitute dealing with extra personal backyard areas and huge mature timber to protect the facade,” Leech added.
“The roof we wished to maintain low on the sides – a approach of guaranteeing the home was hid and discreet however we additionally wished to create quantity and peak inside.”
Butterfly Home’s entrance door opens onto a nook driveway and leads into an entrance corridor that connects to a gently sloping hall bordered by a wall of oak cabinets.
An open-plan kitchen, residing, and eating house is contained inside the taller central quantity of Butterfly Home, which is flanked by the 2 different volumes containing bedrooms – certainly one of which is a collection for the live-in carer.
The place the sloping roofs meet over the central quantity, a shallow V-shaped ceiling hangs over the open residing house.
“By having the bedrooms in every low-lying wing and the residing areas within the centre we have been in a position to maximise peak and create a dramatic distinction between areas of compression and enlargement,” mentioned Leech.
Low drawers and counter tops throughout the kitchen and residing areas, in addition to moveable furnishings, all contribute to the pliability and accessibility of the house.
“An essential a part of supported impartial residing is having the ability to preserve a stage of autonomy,” mentioned the studio. “The kitchen design omits using excessive items, opting as a substitute for low drawers and nothing above seated arm’s attain,” it continued.
“By not falling into the tropes of accessible design and aged lodging, it proposes a brand new mannequin for assisted residing that empowers reasonably than restricts its future person, guaranteeing continuity of use for generations of households to return.”
All through Butterfly Home, the studio has used impartial tones, textured plastered partitions and oak furnishings to create heat that contrasts the constructing’s darkish exterior.
The rooms are topped with uncovered larch beams, showcasing the timber construction of the roof. Under, a strip of clerestory glazing wraps across the outer partitions.
“In distinction to the darkish exterior, the inside finishes carry a muted, calm temper to the house, as a backdrop to the nice and cozy wealthy tones of the larch and oak joinery,” mentioned Leech.
Different accessible houses just lately featured on Dezeen embody an Australian coastal residence knowledgeable by Japanese design and a set of vacation houses added to derelict agricultural buildings in Dorset.
The pictures is by Ståle Eriksen.
