textured in-situ concrete adorns SOBORO house by kennedytwaddle

in a project that demonstrates the versatility of concrete, kennedytwaddle has recently completed a two-bedroom house close to victoria park in east london. built within the garden of an existing victorian stucco villa, the dalston-based architectural practice was challenged by the limited site area. they responded by extending under the garden of the original building and sculpting a cavernous basement space.

all images © henry woide

from the street elevation, the SOBORO residence appears as a modest two-story building. in contrast to the surrounding brick houses, kennedytwaddle has applied a pared back palette of concrete and timber. the simplicity and smoothness of these pre-cast concrete panels create a strong presence on the street, while a recessed terrace clad in warm wood gives depth to the front elevation and breaks up the heavy volume. at the rear elevation, an extension to one of the bedrooms is also clad in the same timber material.

what can’t be seen from the street is the large subterranean space, however, it is alluded to by the voids at the front and rear of the house. these lightwells function to illuminate the basement with shafts of natural light, which penetrate deep into the floor plan.

within the basement level, kennedytwaddle has played with the concrete finish to create a beautifully tactile effect. to emphasize the fact that the house has been hewn from the land, rough cast in-situ concrete has been used here. this gives the space a unique feel, with no two board-marked panels the same. in addition to suggesting the house had been pulled from the earth, the slender vertical boards were also carefully chosen to enhance the generous floor to ceiling height.

as part of their ‘essay in concrete’, the raw texture of the concrete becomes smoother and smoother as you ascend through the house, giving each floor a different atmosphere. above ground the glass like texture of the concrete was achieved by using pre-cast ecocrete concrete panels. with a layer of insulation sandwiched between the concrete a smooth finish could achieved both internally and externally. in keeping with the rusticated approach, externally the ground floor has been grit blasted to differentiate it from the fair faced top floor. polished fair faced internally reflects the light throughout the dwelling.

in keeping with the minimal material palette other elements such as walls, doors, staircase and storage have been treated as furniture inserted into the concrete shell. the joinery reads like a highly crafted piece of workmanship, the precise junctions and natural grain of the birch faced plywood complemented by the concrete. on such a small site a generous house has emerged, the digging, shuttering, casting and craftsmanship clearly apparent both inside and out.