Salmen House
by Office S&M

Office S&M designed Salmen House to be built and let by their client, who had purchased an end of terrace garden suitable for a two-storey infill house.

The house includes three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

This new build-to-rent house contains generous vertical spaces on a constrained corner site in Newham, London. Office S&M proposed cost effective, but high quality materials and design solutions to design something special on a budget.

Though rented, the house is designed as a unique home, so that the tenants can sense an ownership of the property.

The client’s brief was to produce a low cost house, which was to be her first newly-built development after having previously focused on refurbishing flats.

The house opens generously onto the street, rather than being too polite to its mish-mash context of late Victorian, mid-century, and post big-bang housing.

The millennial pink exterior breaks away from the traditional design and biscuit-colour of rented accommodation.

The complimentary colours used in the exterior, salmon pink and lush green, visually push apart to create a feeling of greater volume.

Polished terrazzo reveals bounce additional light inside, as well as mirroring the window details found along the mid-century terrace.

Each space brings in natural light and views from two directions, and through these corners, multiple outlooks are created within each room.

The horizontal circulation is one continuous view from the cranked front door through to the rear garden, while the staircase opens into a generous triple height space that pulls your gaze upwards.

By working closely with the structural engineer to take unnecessary structural elements away, rather than adding to the existing structure, space was maximised to create four-meter-tall bedrooms, exposed beam ceilings, and a triple height staircase.

While clearly opposing the New London Vernacular, the solid wall construction with a single skin of blockwork meant that the superstructure was erected rapidly, and the entire project took just over six months to complete.

A ground floor bedroom and accessible shower room occupy the front of the house, with an open plan kitchen, living and dining room facing the rear garden. On the first floor are two more bedrooms.

This flexible layout, with an ample bathroom for each bedroom, can easily accommodate young professionals on a room by room basis, or a nuclear or intergenerational family.

Hugh McEwen, partner at Office S&M, explains, “By taking a bespoke approach to the site we were able to make the most of the space through careful planning of how the house could be used in the future”.

Authors Office S&M
Location London, United Kingdom
Year 2017
Client My Property and Home
Contractor Catalin London Ltd
Collaborators Structuremode (Structural Engineer),
Wilkinson Construction Consultants (Approved Inspector),
INGINE (M&E consultant), CDRM Services (Client CDM Advisor),
Buildzone (Structural Warranty), NorDan (Aluminium clad windows
and doors), SVK (Fibre Cement Slates), STO (External Wall
Insulation and Render System), InOpera (Terrazzo)
Cost £ 205 000
Surface 87 sqm
Photography French + Tye
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