Stuart Piercy, of Piercy and Company, who co-teaches an MArch design Studio at the University of Westminster (DS16) won the One-off Architect of the Year Award in London this week for two very different conservation schemes tackled with panache.
The first is a modern house in Kew Green conservation area. The four bedroom home sits behind a nineteenth century stable wall. It is constructed from two prefabricated twin gabled forms that respect local massing, clad in Corten weathered steel.
This gives the home a modern look while remaining sympathetic to the gold and red hues of London stock brickwork.
The house was designed as a built diagram of the way the family wanted to use the spaces, with an internal landscape of alternative routes and levels connecting expressive spaces aimed at creating moments of delight for adults and children alike.
The second scheme is the conversion of a Martello tower, a Napoleonic defence tower built in 1808 in Suffolk into a 21st Century private residence.
As a Scheduled Monument on the At Risk register and located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the planning negotiations were matched in complexity by the on-site logistics.
The completed conversion won the support of English Heritage who heralds it as an exemplar of how to convert significant historical buildings.
Simply yet perfectly executed, the conversion respects the original fabric of the building whilst providing a unique family home.
For more detail, visit http://www.piercyconner.co.uk/