London studio Erbar Mattes has completed a timber-framed house in Wimbledon that is formed of three mono-pitched structures unified by buff-brick cladding. Erbar Mattes was tasked with creating a modern four-bedroom family with the same footprint as a bungalow that previously occupied the site at the end of a street in the former Belvedere Estate.
It is broken into three blocks with vaulted roofs, double-height spaces and strategically placed windows, which the studio said is designed to create an “expansive feel within an otherwise compact footprint”.
The main bedroom suite, overlooks the family living room via a balcony window and sliding privacy screen. The block at the southwest of the site has three en-suite bedrooms on the first floor, while the ground floor is given over to storage, a utility room and a home office. Using the boundary wall from the Belvedere Estate that abuts the home, the studio created an intimate courtyard on one side, accessible via timber-framed sliding glass doors. Conscious of the surrounding vernacular context, the studio experimented with massing options through model making.
The house has two neighbours: a larger neo-Georgian house and an original period house of smaller scale. The design team has been searching for a solution that would mediate between the two by breaking down the mass of the building.
Maintaining a monolithic appearance towards the street in keeping with its historic context, the team proposed an intimate character for the upper floor, and punctured a few larger openings in the ground floor social spaces which benefit from the views and connection to the garden. A pale buff-coloured brick facade wraps the three blocks together, finished with traditional flush lime mortar pointing and stone copings. Internally, the whitewashed walls, ceilings, and polished concrete floor are paired with the warm tones of Accoya window frames and light oak joinery to create a “calm and neutral setting”.
Completing the project is a ground-source heat pump and whole-house heat recovery ventilation system, designed to reduce the design’s operational carbon emissions and running costs. Erbar Mattes was founded in 2015 by Erbar with Holger Mattes. Elsewhere, the studio recently overhauled a pair of duplex apartments in a former pub and added a limewashed brick and glass extension to an Edwardian house.
