A New House in Moscow

In 2012, we were invited to design a house on a prominent site in a forested suburb of Moscow. The client’s brief had already been established and tight parameters agreed with local authorities for the size, scale and massing of the building.

Based closely on the agreed scheme, which had the qualities of a giant ‘McMansion’ shared by so much new construction in the enclave, we refined the building and applied architecturally correct Classical detail to create a building that was a refined an coherent essay in Doric architecture. Greek and Roman Doric detailing is combined throughout the building, each playing against the other.

Construction commenced in 2012 and all the architectural cast detail was manufactured in the United Kingdom for export to the site.

A house in New Zealand

This is a design for a new house in Christchurch, New Zealand.  Under construction in 2023-24, the house draws carefully on the brief of the young family who are our clients, who have a very strong interest in classical architecture and design.

We worked very closely with them over several months during the pandemic – with regular video-conferencing to share ideas and development – proving that it is absolutely possible to design a perfect house remotely, if needs be. Construction starts in the spring of 2023 and we hope that upon completion this will be one of the finest new homes to be built in the fine city of Christchurch.

We have gone on to work on a large number of masterplanning projects for the same client, who owns an innovative, highly design-focused development company, Brooksfield, that is helping to rebuild Christchurch after the earthquake damage of 2011.

An Arts and Crafts House

We were asked to prepare designs for this large new house by a prominent property developer in Ireland. The site, to the south west of Dublin, is in stunning country with beautiful views to the Wicklow Mountains.

The client has a love of Arts and Crafts architecture and wanted a building that drew references from Lutyens, Baillie Scott and their contemporaries.

Two low wings form an entrance court at the end of a long, sweeping drive. Upon entering, the house unfolds as a series of discrete yet interconnected rooms that offer small private spaces at the same time as allowing for large parties.

Very tall leaded light windows open up towards the south west. Walls are in local granite and limewashed render, under a graduated stone roof. At the top of the house a promenade tower allows spectacular views across to the Wicklow Mountains.