The Pink House, Oxford
The Pink House occupies a stately position at a corner, and a road intersection, in a notable and historic part of Oxford, which is a Conservation Area. The previously existing house on the site had a similar façade to its replacement, and was pink. Given its notable façade and position, the scale of the overall building was small, giving an impression of being rather poor.
When I joined the project, the clients had already endured a refusal of planning permission, and a costly and lengthy appeal, which they won. Even though they had an architect’s scheme ready-to-go, they opted to instruct me to produce an alternative scheme with them, in place of the work previously undertaken. The newly-proposed scheme gained permission without any further fuss.
My recent professional qualification with CIAT had opened the door to a new range of projects; The Pink House was funded through bank lending; my professional qualification gave me authority to certify the lending, which was critical to the realisation of the scheme.
The clients were very keen to start as soon as possible. The application was determined on the 8th June, the former house was demolished on the 18th August, and the new slab poured on the 7th October.
Despite being built of dense concrete blocks with masonry reveals, the house is extremely energy efficient. It uses 150mm PIR insulation in the floor and walls, the roof has Actis boostR / Hcontrol / Hybris multifoil insulation.
With a great number of detailed drawings to produce, I worked for a period in the site ‘office’ (container), as the house was taking shape and decisions were needing to be taken.
We topped-out in December with a Christmas Tree. I was incredibly proud to invite my mum and dad for the occasion.
The new house uses a similar central façade to the former building, but more than doubles the floor area to 250 sq.m. providing 5 bedrooms, 3 reception rooms, an office, utility room, and garage. The scheme includes a bronze-clad oriel bow-window with weathervane, and solid bronze-framed windows throughout.
A complex eaves detail answered the questions of the junction of the insulation products, the shedding of water, and the inclusion of ‘sprockets’, to create the classic lifted eaves with exposed rafter feet look. The windows are double-glazed and thermally broken, and the house is fitted with MVHR heat-recovery ventilation.
The house is centred around a triple-height stair hall.
The house design tries to retain a feeling of openness thoughout.
A large kitchen with a connected snug, opens to the garden terrace.
The oriel bow-window required a considerable quantity of steel.
The oriel window is finished with a weathervane, the figures taken from a photo of the clients’ children.
The Pink House is next to a school. When I visited to photograph the house, a young girl cycling next to her father cried out “Look Daddy! My favourite thing in the world! The Pink House!” It is testament to the steadfast playfulness of the clients, and a general attention to detail, that The Pink House is whimsical, and eccentric, rather like Oxford herself. I like to think of generations of children being charmed by the fairy-tale Pink House.
I was incredibly excited to find The Pink House in 3D Google Maps. What a picture! We did that!!