London House by Simon Astridge Features Plywood, Concrete, Brickwork, Stone & The Sky. (Yellowtrace)

Plywood House in London by Simon Astridge is humble in budget and size, but high on refinement and detailing. The project involved a full house refurbishment with three new extensions, creating a contemporary home woven into the existing Victorian fabric. The concept involved choosing five materials as a palette for the project – concrete, plywood, brickwork, natural stone and the sky.

Ground floor to the rear of the house was extended to create an open plan kitchen and dining area. Raw & exposed structural concrete walls provide the internal finish of the room along the side party walls. The new ground floor ceiling was created as a warm deck roof with an exposed plywood structure. Brickwork was used as a material on floors and walls, and celebrated in it’s simplest form in the bathrooms for durability.

The upper level houses the master suite, with all the walls, floors and ceilings finished with birch faced plywood. A plywood staircase wraps around the existing Victorian staircase and hallway, delineating the new contemporary parts from the original layout and finishes. Above the stair is a frameless glazed skylight that allows the daylight to penetrate deep into the house. The magical part of this skylight is the moment after the rain stops and the sun comes out – the sunlight pierces through temporary pools of rain water, and shimmers and reflects below onto the walls. “It wasn’t planned for, but it is magical,” explains the architect.