Veil House – Nick Willson Architects
Veil House is a new two bedroom house in Camden, London, which is currently being prepared for planning. The new proposals for Rochester Road include the demolition of the existing lock up garages.
The visual concept for the house consists of a woven brick veil to provide privacy for the living spaces and to cast dappled light and shadows into the interior rooms. The veil creates a division between the exterior of busy Camden and the private interior, where the occupier can use slits and peepholes to view the outside world. This creates an animated façade to front a minimal structure of concrete floors and soffits, exposed timber joists and block walls. The interior is further cocooned by bamboo, which wraps around the stairs, walls, joinery and flooring. Roof lights bring natural light into the sunken spaces of the house, in order to keep it light and airy.
The design is for a semi detached dwelling that encompasses the essence of an inner city home with both private quiet spaces and more public open spaces. The use of lightly rendered materials and full height glazing to the lower ground floor bedrooms will allow the courtyard space to feel as part of the house.The house is split vertically with the lower ground floor accommodating the private sleeping areas, bathroom and storage. This floor is of a single aspect nature with access onto the sunken courtyard, which in addition offers privacy for the two bedrooms.
The lower ground floor is also sunken to lower the overall height and profile of the house and to maximise thermal mass. The ground floor is designed around a more public open plan living, dining and eating space with a single aspect glazed and brick screened North facing elevation. The circulation, entrance, W.C elements are all on the right hand side of the plan entered via an enclosed private courtyard which contains a seat and bin/recycling storage. The roof accommodates a green sedum roof.
