Things That Make You Go Hmmm...

(C + C Music Factory, 1991)

On Monday we were finally able to meet V&A the architects to see what they had in store for the house. They had warned us that it may not be quite what we had in mind…

As you'll remember, the main challenge was to do something with the back of the house, which is messy and dark. The kitchen sticks out on its own on the first floor, creating a big damp shady waste of space next to it.

So, to explain the general idea, these are V&A's rough sketches of the back façade and side cut, before and after:

The idea is to drop the kitchen to the lower ground, so that it has direct access out to the garden.

On top of that is a large terrace, with light wells to bring light into the kitchen below, and with large glass doors leading to the sitting room.

You with me? So here we have it again from above and in more detail. On the left is the lower ground, and on the right the upper ground (or first floor if you like):

So big thumbs up for connecting the kitchen to the garden, for bringing in the light, and for the huge raised terrace to catch the last of the evening's rays. I think we can live with all that without too much hardship.

However, this also means demolishing half of the hallway (with its pretty 1898 mosaic floor) and the staircase that goes down to the basement, to fit a new staircase the width of the hallway that takes you straight down to the kitchen. And losing a room. And destroying the rather lovely (and useful) wine cellar. Do I sound a bit regretful when I say that?

I had a few immediate reactions, and C had others. There are some quite major decisions to make, but we need to mull it over a while and then get back to V&A to see if they can maybe some up with a revised version.

Hmm....