"I love K Bava Architects Limited"

2022-10-06 22:14:18

Projects About CONTACT Menu K Bava Architects Projects About CONTACT Winns Construction of ground floor and first floor rear extension to a Warner House in Walthamstow, London.The house is a unique ‘Sun House’ which is wide and shallow which feels much lighter than a typical Victorian house. The project aimed to maintain this atmosphere throughout.The rear extension arranges elements of traditional construction in a modern way. The materials stack, shift and sit together in a considered manner.The bay breaks up the large expanse of glazing to create an intimate relationship with the garden. On the interior the bay connects two reception rooms. The ceiling level continues into the side space and angles around a column. The end result is a blurring of multiple elements to give a layered experience. The reception room flows from the existing rooms with a beam structure which crosses, bends and folds to define the spaces. A roof light connects these elements to the natural daylight.The first floor bathroom is a tall and light space with a material palette that helps to emphasise the feeling of the room, rather than the equipment. To the street the concrete lintels installed in the 1980’s were stripped back and restored. The new timber windows reflect the rhythm of the street elevation, however the wide openings create interiors flooded with daylight. Photos by Emily Marshall Barbican Sunken Bars A conservation and interiors project for the City of London Grade II listed Barbican Centre Theatre.The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. It was constructed between 1965 and 1971.These two unique compact bars are located under the steps of the Barbican Theatre. After years of intensive use, the listed fabric required a comprehensive refurbishment. The existing spaces have been refurbished and upgraded to current technical standards with a minimum of visual compromise to the original design intention. These spaces are characterised by elements found around the Barbican centre, redeployed into a tight and considered arrangement. The steel bar structure is made from the handrails on the centre, and the ceiling comes from the art gallery. The handling of these pieces together with the use of mirrors creates a very different scale of experience, using very familiar design cues. We wanted to intensify this interesting play on scale whilst highlighting the forgotten qualities of the spaces. With the use of improved lighting focussing on elements of the bar, key walls and the use of original Barbican colours we have struck a balance between conservation and recognising the intensive and varied use of these spaces in a modern institution. The furniture was discovered within the Barbican centre and reupholstered in plush velvet fabrics that relate to the theatre seating. Additional new elements also join the family of furniture to allow for flexibility of use. The functional and technical upgrades include asbestos removal, lighting, security, and visitors’ facilities, such wc, bar operation facilities such as washing, serving and refrigeration, as well as improving storage. The refurbishment project is both a respectful repair to an element of this landmark complex of buildings, and an interpretation of how these spaces can remain relevant for current use. Photography by Emily Marshall V&A Museum Silver Tower A capital project for the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington.The bathrooms are located off the main cafe and therefore receive heavy use. The palette of quarry floor tiles and glazed wall tiles take reference from the Victorian bathroom at the other side of the cafe.The project was developed in close collaboration with the estates services team and operation teams. This helped build on the successes of previous projects at the museum. V&A Museum Conservation Science Laboratory A capital project to update the Conservation Science Laboratory for the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington.The distinctive floor and historic beams aim to create a memorable space. The strong colours visually cut through the mixture of scientific equipment at desk level. The large windows give an industrial aesthetic which is strengthened by the updated services which are suspended or surface fixed.The project has created a multipurpose, flexible and highly configurable space within the laboratory that is better to be able to adapt to different project needs. It will thereby strengthen the department’s ability to undertake and host multifaceted collaborative research centred on the V&A’s collection and its preservation. Spinney Hill Extensive refurbishment and extension of a 1960s detached house. The front extension is a tower like form which sits in dialogue with the heavy tiled gable end roof and protruding front bay. The strange form sits as a partner to the main house; side-by-side. The kitchen extension is grand is scale and is detailed in an honest and simple manner that bears some relationship to the original house. The two openings relate to the garden level and the terrace level. Internally the ground floor rooms are accessed from an anteroom, something that we find in the Georgian architecture of William Chambers. The reception rooms are defined but all connected by a room that acts like an internal piazza. From the anteroom there are steps down to the kitchen, which is at garden level. The entire ground floor is polished concrete with a natural aggregate pattern running throughout the space. The spatial journey ends on the first floor in a tall room which is a secluded space in the house, it is the belvedere room in the tower. Photography by Nick Dearden - Building Narratives Sourdough Sophia A crowd funded local Crouch End bakery conceived and opened during the Covid-19 pandemic. The shop is testament to the growing shift toward smaller, local businesses that can revitalise the high street. The front public area is imagined as a cabinet and gives a sense of intimacy to the small space. The bespoke panelling is constructed of oak, the material used for the bread making worktops. The design is a modern interpretation of the timber lined shops in Crouch End that were originally built in the Victorian era. A pink concrete tiled floor continues through both spaces. The bakery area is visible for visitors to experience the production of the bread. This was an important part of the overall brand approach, which grew from online classes and videos. The bakery will also be used for classes to teach Sourdough baking skills. Photography by Emily Marshall Pembridge A complete new home with basement behind an original retained Victorian façade. The project sought to restore the noble proportions and decorative qualities of the original house without creating a pastiche replica. The details are a modern interpretation of the historic joinery, which gives the house a familiar but distinctly modern feel. The extended rear garden facing rooms are distinctly modern and take full advantage of the views over the unusually long garden and surrounding trees. A series of small panelled spaces in rich colours and materials compliment the large calm rooms. The overall experience is book-ended with the roof space and the basement, both designed to maximise their position in the house. The top floor is a timber-lined suite that references the idea of a garret level in a historic house, an intimate space with a sloping ceiling. The basement level is an expansive space of a scale which would be unusual for a house in the Victorian period. The end grain block floor takes the familiar oak used throughout the house but laid in a manner that feels earthy and grounded. The walls are lined with decorative granite at their base to give a feeling of solidity and weight. The details utilise a mixture of sharp precise bronze with shadow gaps, fine plaster and rough granite. K Bava Architects worked on the interiors as a joint project with Nick Hill Architects. Base build was by Pitman Tozer Architects. Photography by Emily Marshall Garden House At the end of the garden we designed a small house. The garden house is elemental in its nature and at times it feels like an inhabited ruin in the garden. Materials such as brick, marble, oak and galvanised steel assembled in a precise and considered manner give a sense of luxury and comfort from which to enjoy nature. The formal arrangement of the house consists of two interlocking brick volumes arranged to align with the existing garden walls. The intersections to the two alignments give the spaces character and a feeling of informality. The small-enclosed courtyard to the rear gives a new type of intimate outdoor space whilst benefitting the main room with a dual aspect. K Bava Architects worked on the architecture and interior for Nick Hill Architects. Photography by Emily Marshall Quorn An ensemble of agricultural buildings within the grounds of the Victorian Quorn Hunt stables. Planning permission and listed building consent granted. Melrose A replacement for an existing extension built in the 1990s. The scheme retains the foundations and sidewall to minimise waste and cost. The large Victorian villa has an unusually small but well planted garden that wraps around the extension on three sides. The south-facing garden benefits from good sunlight at all times of the day. The relationship to the garden is to feel engulfed within it, a close connection rather than a view to be admired. On warm days the glazing’ slides back to allow the extension to function as a portico to the garden. The scheme aims to bring in sunlight from all sides by creating a roof supported on glazing to three sides. The heavy metal box appears to hang over the garden when the glazing is open. Existing openings to the side elevation were in-filled to allow for a new long slot window at worktop height. The experience when using the kitchen feels less insular and more connected to the outside. Photos by Emily Marshall Flaine The refurbishment and upgrade to the entrance lobby and locker area for three buildings forming part of the listed Marcel Breuer scheme in Flaine, Arâches-la-Frasse, France . In order to work with the crafted Modernism of the original building, we proposed to re-interpret the original designs in modern materials and colours, whilst solving practical issues such as waterproofing. In two buildings we removed layers of finishes to reveal the original timber. The central islands were replaced and finished to match the existing wall panelling.In one building extensive work was required to resolve leaking. The lockers were constructed to the Breuer designs with minor adjustments. The timber is lighter and make a clear distinction between the old and new, without impacting on the atmosphere of these spaces. Stannard Extensive alteration to a Victorian house in Hackney to accommodate multi generational living.Works included lowering the first floor ceiling to create a loft room with a new staircase. Additional joinery, kitchen and bathrooms were added.The spirit of the historic house is maintained in some elements of the design, whilst other items have a new sharpness to give a transformative feel to the space. The judgement between these approaches had to be applied over the entire project to create a coherent whole.The loft space aims to feel honest to its location without resorting to drastically different finishes. Elements such as the chimney forms and historic timber give character whilst avoiding unnecessary demolition. All images by Emily Marshall Ruislip A back land development of 13 apartments in Ruislip West London.The proposal was conceived as a piece of city enclosed behind private gardens with a mixture of buildings and shared spaces.The taller building has a formal generous facade facing the larger spared space, whilst the lower building is informal with changes in height and a form which break down to open up a smaller enclosed shared space.The material treatment of precast concrete, render and painted metal windows reference the ambitious modernist housing of the 1930s in London. Nursery A new garden room for a 1990s house in the East Midlands.The replacement for a conservatory provides a room with different spatial qualities to the main house. A large room with exaggerated perspectives and a strong connection to the garden. The room references the Boissonnas House by Philip Johnson which took aspects of the Glass House whilst introducing the demands of regular habitation. Letchworth Joint project with Studio 3m3The founding idea for garden cities was to bring the benefits of countryside living together with the best of urban life. We designed a combination of looser suburban living with a connection to the surrounding countryside, and denser suburban living with formal and defined green spaces. The proposal for the expansion of Letchworth Garden City aims to build upon the character of the original city whilst taking advantage of its peripheral location surrounded by countryside. Langley Vale Visitor centre in Surrey for the Woodland Trust prev / next Back to Projects 29 Winns 21 Barbican Sunken Bars 5 V&A Museum Silver Tower 3 V&A Museum Conservation Science Laboratory 15 Spinney Hill 16 Sourdough Sophia 35 Pembridge 16 Garden House 8 Quorn 24 Melrose 9 Flaine 11 Stannard 4 Ruislip 3 Nursery 5 Letchworth 6 Langley Vale