Romsey road | AR Design Studio

Romsey road is a luxurious 5 bedroom house refurbishment in the city of Winchester. Our brief was to create a sense of space and calm in the tight and complicated layout. By extending at the rear on first floor we replaced two single bedrooms with two master bedrooms with en suites, as well as liberating space to create a new double height dramatic entrance and stairs leading to a wide functional landing and a new family bathroom. The palette of materials used is limited and muted, white and grey render and tiles to make the experience of the house that of a calm play between spaces and light. On the ground floor we doubled the kitchen and dining area to create our signature minimal open living space, this is fully glazed on to the external glass-covered patio. Our concept was to create continuity between the two rooms by using the same floor material, flush thresholds and structural glass to cover the external patio. By designing an oversized structural frame at the end of the covered patio we strongly marked the end of this space to create the illusion that the internal living space extends to the external limit of the covered patio. This ambiguous internal and external space creates vitality, in the tradition of modernist spaces like that of Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona pavilion. On the garden elevation both the client and planners supported us in creating a strong visual identity, which is expressed by the simple play of a dark grey box (the first floor bedrooms) jutting out of the ground floor’s white render and glass structure. A simple but radical look.