Situated on a former garage site, the West London home utilised Vandersanden’s 65mm Antro facing brick for interiors and exteriors
Designed by Surrey-based firm, Fletcher Crane Architects, Tree House is a contemporary home located in a conservation area in Ealing, West London.
Construction on a 12 x 12m former garage site, the two-bedroom property is bounded by rear gardens and became an articulated series of volumes in a split-level arrangement of rooms around a central spine.
The kitchen and living room reside on the upper storeys as a way of maximising natural daylight, while the two bedrooms and associated bathrooms are submerged within the semi-sunken floors.
Inside and outside the home, extensive use is made of three principal materials to create a raw palette of black ash timber, tubular metalwork and multi-coloured brick. The team specified Vandersanden’s 65mm Antro facing brick for interiors and exteriors.
The load-bearing Antro brickwork is exposed and flush-jointed with traditional lime mortar to create an almost monolithic appearance. ‘Baubuche’ structural timber joists span the brick structure, while, in the basement, the in-situ concrete frame is left bare.
The central staircase is encased in ash timber panelling which is set against more curved Antro brickwork and sharp metal balustrades.
Outside, a sunken planted courtyard is accessed using stepped Antro brick planters and a paddle stair constructed of black cobble setts.
“We like the texture, the tones and the variety that the Antro brick gives us at Tree House,” says Harry Reid, Architect at Fletcher Crane Architects.
“Vandersanden offers a significant range of these light multi-coloured bricks, both in white and grey hues which are very attractive for this type of project. The company supplied us with a number of sample options for comparison and contrast, and we duly selected Antro as our brick of choice.
”We’re delighted with it, particularly in how the Antro brick combines with the lime mortar, and other components at Tree House to create the overall feeling of an intimate yet generous home that’s filled with light and rich in materials.”
Antro is created from a combination of different clay forms which yield a grey base colour, then coated with specific sand types to bring a grained, creased texture to the brick. The clay structure evokes darker and lighter tones out of the base grey along with shades of white in the overall final appearance.
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