Specifiers Journal 2016

The striking bright orange stair, which
wraps round the bookcase on all five
levels, is made of individual steel trays
dipped in orange liquid rubber and
bolted over individual cantilevered
steel hoops. A curved steel hoop
was bolted into each upside-down
U-shaped tray in raw, blackened steel,
with the top surface then dipped in
vibrant, orange liquid rubber. The
trays are open-ended so that the end
of the hoop is visible from the far side.
The stair runs up alongside the
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bookcase on each floor, so that every
book is accessible to the new owners
and their family. The bookcase is
made up of machined anodised
aluminium sheets, which were
precision-engineered and machinescrewed
together so that there are
no welds, with counter-sunk stainless
steel screws so that every junction is
perfect.
The bookcase also features glazed,
walk-on slots set into the timber
floor directly in front of the bookcase
at every level, allowing full top-tobottom
views, whichever level you
are on.
The bookcase finishes 1.1m above
floor level on the top storey with
a skylight directly above, which
opens according to an automated
temperature sensor and closes when
it rains.
The brief for the interior, beyond the
bookcase and stair structure, was to
create a sense of surprise from the
moment the front door opens, giving
visitors immediate views on entry
right through the house and through
the rear extension to the garden
beyond, rather than into the classic
entrance hall and stair of a house of
this period.
A quiet and relaxing ante-lobby
and working space is located on
the entrance floor, together with a
separate office space for one of the
owners, who works from home. This
area has doors that can be folded
away, so that the entrance level area
can be completely open plan when
not in use, bar the toilet area. Sofas
at the far end of this space give users
views right through the two-storey
space beyond and the glass sliding