Mountain View
by CAN

Mountain View is a radical transformation of an Edwardian semi-detached house into a colourful family home topped with a stage set Mountain, designed by CAN.

CAN is an architecture office based in London, directed by Mat Barnes. You can read their profile here.

Materials, shapes and colours are intersected throughout to create highly textural and tactile spaces.

According to the architects, the house takes its design cues from numerous pop culture sources including a Disneyland rollercoaster and a scene from the film Trainspotting.

The house opens up progressively as you move through the ground floor, from the dark monochromatic front room through to the light filled extension.

The site slopes towards the garden which allows the floor level of the back of the house to be lowered by a metre, connecting the new open plan kitchen/diner to the garden. A simple reconfiguration of the first floor provided an additional bedroom.

There was a focus on opening up the space and using the exposed textures and structure as the final finish. There is little built-in furniture to provide ultimate future flexibility.

The existing fabric of the building has been thermally upgraded throughout. The kitchen and exterior lintel facings are made from recycled chopping boards and milk bottle tops.

The exposed laser-cut trusses in the extension nod to high-tech architecture and alongside the ranging pole columns, survey marker tiles and partially ruined brick wall add to a sense of the surreal.

Upstairs, the hallway ceiling has been removed. A chequerboard bathroom references original tiles found in the house.

Opening it up to a new skylight above with the bones of the old house retained.

For the authors, the project is a highly personal response to the family's tastes and way of living.

Author CAN (Mat Barnes)
Location London, United Kingdom
Year 2020
Photography Jim Stephenson
CAN All That Could Have Been Lomax Studio House of Chickens Graphic Designer's House Schoonschip A House with Four Gardens Casa del Búho

facebook

 

twitter

a project powered by Itinerant Office

subscribe to our newsletter

follow us