Fairmead House
Fairmead House is a refurbishment of a late 20th-century modernist bungalow at the edge of the wild meadows in St Albans, Hertfordshire. Originally built in the 1970s, the house has been reimagined through quiet, precise interventions: gestures that bring new clarity and softness to daily life while improving performance and deepening its connection to the surrounding landscape.
The project reflects a generational shift in how we live and what we value. A slower rhythm, closer proximity to nature, and a home that balances calmness with metropolitan sensibility. Without extending the footprint, the work focuses on proportion, light, and material presence to unlock the latent potential of the structure. Rather than spectacle, the emphasis is on spatial dynamics, tactility, and an ever-changing atmosphere.
Fairmead House
Fairmead House is a refurbishment of a late 20th-century modernist bungalow at the edge of the meadows in St Albans, Hertfordshire. Originally built in the 1970s, the house has been reimagined through quiet, precise interventions: gestures that bring new clarity and softness to daily life while improving performance and deepening its connection to the surrounding landscape.
The project reflects a generational shift in how we live and what we value. A slower rhythm, closer proximity to nature, and a home that balances calmness with metropolitan sensibility. Without extending the footprint, the work focuses on proportion, light, and material presence to unlock the latent potential of the structure. Rather than spectacle, the emphasis is on spatial dynamics, tactility, and an ever-changing atmosphere.
Transformation here is about subtlety, with a deep focus on experiential richness. Selected partitions were removed to create open connections between kitchen, dining, and living areas, reinforcing the home’s horizontal nature.
New single-pane windows in clear-finish aluminium replaced conventional, busier uPVC units, reframing the house’s engagement with its setting. These openings read almost as still lifes, bringing the garden into view without distraction. As one moves through the house, the framings shift and realign, producing a gallery-like sequence of moments that reveal the landscape as a series of changing compositions.
Light is treated as a material in its own right. Variations in surface and colour generate tonal shifts across the plan: cooler sky hues bouncing in the kitchen, warmer tones settling in the living room, gently tinted by the biopolymer resin floor. Everyday movement becomes a slow unfolding of atmospheres, inviting closer attention to the surroundings.
Transformation here is about subtlety, with a deep focus on experiential richness. Selected partitions were removed to create open connections between kitchen, dining, and living areas, reinforcing the home’s horizontal nature.
New single-pane windows in clear-finish aluminium replaced conventional, busier uPVC units, reframing the house’s engagement with its setting. These openings read almost as still lifes, bringing the garden into view without distraction. As one moves through the house, the framings shift and realign, producing a gallery-like sequence of moments that reveal the landscape as a series of changing compositions.
Light is treated as a material in its own right. Variations in surface and colour generate tonal shifts across the plan: cooler sky hues bouncing in the kitchen, warmer tones settling in the living room, gently tinted by the biopolymer resin floor. Everyday movement becomes a slow unfolding of atmospheres, inviting closer attention to the surroundings.
Quarter-cut oak cabinetry and exposed timber beams bring a natural warmth that resonates with the meadows. Set against this, the pale-pink biopolymer floor and the house’s geometric layout introduce an abstract counterpoint. The floor surface is softly waved, anchoring the rooms in a tone that is atmospheric rather than ornamental, perceived more as a blush than a dominant gesture.
Bespoke details in solid oak add rhythm and care, while engineered stone surfaces provide a durable stage for family life. Concealed appliances maintain clarity, allowing the kitchen to emerge less as a fitted room than as a composed piece of furniture: tactile, functional, and simple.
Lighting is treated with restraint. Daylight is prioritised, while artificial light creates smaller points of focus – pendants and wall fixtures that add warmth and orientation at night. The result is a house bright and open by day, intimate and grounded by night.
Quarter-cut oak cabinetry and exposed timber beams bring a natural warmth that resonates with the meadows. Set against this, the pale-pink biopolymer floor and the house’s geometric layout introduce an abstract counterpoint. The floor surface is softly waved, anchoring the rooms in a tone that is atmospheric rather than ornamental, perceived more as a blush than a dominant gesture.
Bespoke details in solid oak add rhythm and care, while engineered stone surfaces provide a durable stage for family life. Concealed appliances maintain clarity, allowing the kitchen to emerge less as a fitted room than as a composed piece of furniture: tactile, functional, and simple.
Lighting is treated with restraint. Daylight is prioritised, while artificial light creates smaller points of focus – pendants and wall fixtures that add warmth and orientation at night. The result is a house bright and open by day, intimate and grounded by night.
The clients, a young family with two children, played a central role in the making of the home. Many parts of the build were undertaken by the clients themselves, resulting in a space that holds both professional clarity and personal resonance. Their engagement shaped the final outcome as much as the architectural brief.
Fairmead House ultimately reflects how architecture can support life quietly and without excess. Its richness lies not in statement or scale but in tone, texture, and the sequencing of experience. A project about balance – between city and nature, past and present, precision and feeling.
The clients, a young family with two children, played a central role in the making of the home. Many parts of the build were undertaken by the clients themselves, resulting in a space that holds both professional clarity and personal resonance. Their engagement shaped the final outcome as much as the architectural brief.
Fairmead House ultimately reflects how architecture can support life quietly and without excess. Its richness lies not in statement or scale but in tone, texture, and the sequencing of experience. A project about balance – between city and nature, past and present, precision and feeling.
