The Van Herk house
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”
We are immensely proud of all our projects and collaborations with amazing people. The Van Herk house will always be particularly special; initially because of how the design process was navigated with the clients living in Singapore and the project in Kent, but also how we managed to execute such a complex project during the Covid-19 pandemic that caused both Singapore and the UK to go into lockdown.
The use of virtual reality was fundamental to this process. Held at 14:00 GMT most weeks, we met the clients as digital avatars within the virtual reality model of the proposed dwelling itself, often refining and changing the design in real time within the VR environment. Hundreds of hours were spent creating design studies of specific elements, such as the staircase, that were realised by skilled builders and craftspeople in a testament to the enduring creative human spirit.
Before and after gallery
Locally listed, the dwelling was stripped back to just its external walls. Looking at the elegant finished dwelling in these photographs, it is difficult to imagine just how much the property changed. The internal layout was opened up via concealed steel beams spanning over 8m. At the street-facing elevation a modest single storey entrance porch was replaced with a new two storey gable end to accommodate the relocated staircase. Skilfully composed to reflect the Arts and Crafts heritage of the dwelling, it incorporates a beautiful corbeled arch entrance porch. At the rear of the building symmetry was created with a new gable to the north, to create a pocket filled with a contemporary, highly glazed single storey kitchen extension. The small double garage was replaced with a larger building that provides annex accommodation and a glorious pool house for entertaining around the 12m long swimming pool, added at the lawn level.
“The past is not dead, it is living in us, and will be alive in the future which we are now helping to make”
The Van Herk house is a 21st Century re-imaging of an Arts and Crafts home. In the tradition of the Arts and Crafts movement championed by William Morris, craftsmanship is celebrated.
Street-facing extension with handmade bricks incorporated into a corbeled segmental arch.
Unique organic staircase and porcelain chandelier.
Highly glazed kitchen and dining space.
Glorious gardens and swimming pool.
Interiors
The amazing interiors of the Van Herk house reflect the clients’ eclectic taste and were created in collaboration with our clients’ good friends at iCatch Design, a small interior design company based in Manchester. iCatch created individual and exciting designs that reflect the personality of the client whilst retaining the necessary levels of practicality.
Staircase
The staircase at the Van Herk house took hundreds of hours to design, detail, construct and install. In collaboration with Robert Kranenborg and his team at Forging Matters Sculptural Metalwork, the design is based around the Frangipani trees the Van Herks loved in Singapore. The composition is complete with an Andreea Braescu Ginkgo 352 light sculpture that harmonises the principles of living nature and the life-sustaining relationship between sun and tree. The translucency of porcelain reflects light in a beautifully warm and intimate way, and each leaf is precisely placed to capture and reflect the light, perfectly complementing the balustrade and the staircase’s polished plaster underside.
