Vincent Road
Developments
Location:
Dorking, Surrey
Client:
Private Commercial Client
RIBA Stages:
1 – 4 (Inception to Technical Design)
Description:
The client came to us with a vacant workshop which they wished to demolish and convert the land into family homes, matching the entirely residential nature of the neighbourhood. The site, set in the Dorking Conservation Area, offered a great opportunity to design a pair of houses to the front of the site following the dominant traditional features found all along the existing street scene. In contrast, the rear of the site allowed for the design of modern style dwellings, utilising the aesthetic found on the neighbouring site also designed by us a few years previously, bringing a sense of cohesion to the new dwellings in the immediate area.
The front houses, a mirrored semi-detached pair, both maximise their traditional form to meet modern living standards. They contain three bedrooms split over the first and second floors, as well as an office, family bathroom and two en-suites. The rear houses, unable to utilise the roof space for a second floor due to planning requirements, still include two bedrooms, an office, family bathroom and en-suite, whilst a larger ground floor allows for an open plan kitchen, living, dining room looking onto the garden, separate living room, utility room and W.C.
The external design and material palette for both sets of houses is significantly different, with the front units following a strict heritage-based theme in order to match the existing facades along the road, combining a traditional brick with render to each elevation, as well as heritage grade sash windows and a slate tiled roof. The rear units, however, follow much more of a contemporary style, with Zinc and vertical timber cladding defining each of the homes, as well as extended gable walls to conceal the roof and guttering, resulting in an attractive modern silhouette.
