Renovation

Bindloss Dawes extend historic listed Somerset schoolhouse for Farrow & Ball colour curator. Bindloss Dawes has unveiled a remarkable transformation of Pitcombe’s Old School House, a Grade-II listed property nestled within a picturesque valley in Somerset, combining original character with contemporary architecture. The new timber extension showcases the dedication to the craftsmanship of British architects Bindloss Dawes, known for their rigorous detailing and material compositions that balance city and country sensibilities, delivered in close collaboration with the client Farrow & Ball color curator Joa Studholme and her husband, Andrew.

Architect Donald Luckenbill, a senior architect at the practice of Paul Rudolph, completed work on Oceanus House, situated atop Mount Olympus, in 1992. Overhauling a modest home built on the property in 1975, Luckenbill doubled its footprint and completely changed its fundamental shape and style. However, subsequent interventions over the years gradually eroded the house’s coherence, leading to the need for thoughtful modernization.

Perfect Day is a complete renovation and transformation of a 1960s chalet for a family in search of an alternative lifestyle. Its sober architecture offers large volumes dedicated to communal living and compact spaces that can accommodate up to ten people.

With the creation of a new cultural center, Lemoal Lemoal has breathed new life into a former middle school in Mortagne-au-Perche, France. This center now houses a music school, an orchestra, local associations, and a sports facility. The town of Mortagne-au-Perche possesses a rich architectural heritage, which it is striving to rejuvenate through the restoration and transformation of its built environment and thereby enhance the area’s attractiveness. The project for a Memory Center is part of this undertaking. The town chose the mothballed middle school to serve as a cultural center located in the heart of the village. Under the framework of this project, this 20th-century building had to be renovated and brought up to compliance standards. The main architectural intentions relied upon the conservation of the existing building, and a more thorough interior reorganization.

The Zhoushan Summer Hotel was completed five years ago. The strategy of adding balconies and changing the facades at that time changed the limitations of the original square-shaped houses in the area and brought a new sense of interior and exterior. As the Summer Hotel became more famous, this design strategy gradually evolved into a facade style in the following years. Almost all the newly built houses in the village had same white walls with square windows. The goal of reversing the villagers’ desire to build “European-style villas” through a simple facade effect was quickly achieved.

The clients, a British couple, purchased an abandoned village consisting of six sets of run-down buildings with the aim of rehabilitating each space and turning it back into a village. The project aims to create local accommodation for wellness retreats with a sustainable approach, offering permaculture workshops, yoga, reiki and lots of contact with nature. In the first phase, the first complex was rehabilitated.