Kew House, Kew, London
This architectural design cleverly blends a new glass and steel structure with the remnants of a Victorian stable block. There were a number of environmental and conservation and planning issues to be dealt with in this sensitive green conservation area of South West London.
The project was short listed for the Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year Award 2015.
The Architect is Stuart Piercy of Piercy & Company, a London based architectural practice and there was a very close working relationship with the clients, both of whom are practising engineers.
The structural steel components of the 3960 sq.ft. house were pre-fabricated and then transported to be assembled on-site. Two welders were on-site for two months.
Some of the Corten steel cladding was cut in precise patterns of square-cut irregular perforations calculated to cast sun-lit patterns on interior walls in a style inspired by tree foliage.
The roof comprises experimental sandwiched steel panels, with insulation bonded to its underside.
Corten is a steel alloy which was developed to eliminate the need for painting and form a stable rust-like appearance when exposed to weather elements.
In this case the cutting equipment used was a Maxiem Water Jet Cutter. One of the advantages of water jet cutting equipment is that it allows the work to be performed without the heat normally associated with laser or plasma cutting and water jet is accurate to a tolerance within 1mm.
