High Bois Lane House

T-sa and Charlie Luxton redesign of a 1960s’ house in Buckinghamshire, is a metaphor for an approach to the interpretation and diffusion of architectural knowledge.

How many levels of interpretation does a building have? First comes the visible reading of its architecture but if we stop at the shell, the space inside and the design of the fronts we are only seeing it from one angle.

Buildings hide stories that, in the most fascinating cases, tell us about people and ideas – not just the architect who conceived a specific construction but the client who wanted it and the people who make use of it. In the instantaneous confusion created by digital communication, buildings, today, do not really seem in possession of special qualities but they often have their own inner truth that is linked to something more, something that, fortunately, goes beyond appearances. The story of London’s Toh Shimazaki Architecture, namely Yuli Toh and Takero Shimazaki (co-designers with Charlie Luxton of this single-family home in High Bois Lane, Buckinghamshire), is one of these and a lesson that should be widely disseminated.

high_bois_lane — Top: the south front of the house in High Bois Lane, Amersham. Above: the north front and entrance

After teaching at university level for several years, in 2006 the two architects decided to pursue other ways of teaching architecture and set up the t-sa forum, a summer workshop for university students that brings different professionals, including engineers, builders and artists, into its teaching programme. Having thrown out the organisation typical of an architectural office, Toh and Shimazaki embarked on new paths. They started to wonder how architectural knowledge could be spread outside the traditional circles, also among people who, although not practising the profession, may come across issues linked to architecture during their lives. They thought that some form of preparation is always a bonus when dealing with a world that is often hard going for the uninitiated and that, perhaps, it is best to start young. In 2008, following on from this experience, Toh and Shimazaki formed the t-sa forum mini workshops, a school of architecture for children aged six to twelve.

The t-sa forum mini workshops are held every Saturday for a group of ten children. Some might think it an excellent way to secure some free time and indulgently get rid of the kids until 3 pm but, actually, the parents help with the course. Every Thursday, they are emailed the focus of the following Saturday, together with pictures, texts and TV documentaries, to give the young students time to prepare. As Takero Shimazaki explains, “the children often know more than us when they get here”. The subjects addressed may be topical ones such as the Olympics, linked to society such as the problem of homelessness and accessible social housing or even environmental issues such as floods. The children are given a theme and a site to develop, which they then explore in drawings and by producing study models.

When asked what they have learnt from the t-sa forum mini workshops, the two London professionals reply that, as well as being more creative than typical university students, the children manage to extract the maximum from even the humblest of things and always see potential in existing objects. They work without preconceptions and adopt a flexible approach, ready to change as and when necessary. An approach that Toh, Shimazaki and Luxton (the latter combines his environmental training with work as a TV director) adopted for this single-family home, which had to come to terms with a pre-existing structure: a small 1960s’ Modernist villa.

In agreement with their clients, Toh, Shimazaki and Luxton decided to attain the maximum from the existing structure, “a bit like the children do” and minimise the introduction of new material to contain costs. They retained most of the brick walls, opening holes in them for large windows and raising the roof to create a sloping one, thus making the living room more spacious. This enabled them to optimise the incoming natural light, which now also enters the living area through two new windows beneath the ridge of the roof, beside the chimney. Like their young students, the professionals altered the design and construction details on site in a number of sketches.

Once the outer shell had been remodelled, the architects decided to blend the existing and new features and did so with colour: black on the outside and white on the inside for the walls, unifying new and old but leaving the brick texture visible. This colour contrast is repeated on the inside with b/w triangular flooring in the entrance hall that contrasts with the warm tones of the parquet and oak window and door frames. The house is now a black block that blends into the vegetation and, unlike the previous building, opens onto the landscape through visuals carefully devised by the architects.

Based in London, Toh Shimazaki Architecture was founded by Takero Shimazaki and Yuli Toh in 1996. Their best-known design is the Centre for Sight in East Grinstead, Sussex (see Domus no. 939, 2009). As well as the t-sa forum and t-sa forum mini workshops, Takero Shimazaki lectures at the Architectural Association in London. Charlie Luxton differs from the usual designer because, after graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2000, he combined his professional career with one in television, making documentaries for the leading UK channels, including the BBC and Channel 4. His latest TV programme is Building the Dream for Channel 4, in which Luxton shows viewers how to build the house of their dreams with the resources available.

High Bois Lane House, Amersham
Architects: Takero Shimazaki Architecture (t-sa) and Charlie Luxton
Design team: Jennifer Frewen, Charlie Luxton, Takero Shimazaki, Meiri Shinohara
Structural engineering: Milk Structures
Approved inspector: STMC Building Control
General contractor: Silver Square Construction Solutions Ltd
Clients: Jonathan and Ana Maria Harbottle
Single ply roof: Bauder
Doors and windows: OJ Joinery Ltd, Osmo UK
Mechanical ventilation and heat recovery: Vent Axia
Cost: £ 250,000
Floor area: 215 sqm