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Architect Visit: Macdonald Wright in London

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Architect Visit: Macdonald Wright in London

December 12, 2011

London architect James Macdonald Wright posed himself a challenge when he designed a home for his own family: "Take a historical building and figure out how to completely modernize the interior." Wright's starting point was an 1893 late-Victorian terrace house. "I wanted to create a feeling of surprise," says Wright. "From the outside, it looks like every other house on the street. You walk in, and suddenly it becomes a very different environment." Wright accomplished this by stripping the interiors (save for a few choice details, including a gloomy Victorian mantelpiece), installing a German-made Bulthaup kitchen, and replacing the floors with timbers from Danish company Dinesen.

Photography courtesy of Macdonald Wright Architects.

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Above: The brick terrace house was in a conservation district, so the facade had to stay the same.

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Above: "The most interesting thing about the original house is that there's a change in level," Wright says. "You come into the house and then step into the belly of the structure."

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Above: Wright created 14 different niches around the house, each lit with a strip of LEDs. "I wanted to create background lighting throughout the communal areas of the house, so there's a low level of light all the way through," he says.

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Above: The wide-plank Douglas fir flooring from Dinesen was treated with lye and soap. "The soap finish brings out the grain, and the floor becomes a sculptural element in its own right," Wright says. "The finish is completely impermeable—my children draw on it with permanent marker pens and the marks come right off."

macdonald wright kitchen square window

Above: The kitchen opens onto a small but verdant garden.

mcdonald wright architects kitchen dinesen

Above: The kitchen table is from Bulthaup, and the chairs are Hans Wegner's classic wishbone chairs. The home's original hearth (painted white) now accommodates a wood-burning stove from Morsø.

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Above: The kitchen cabinetry is from Bulthaup.

macdonald wright knife holder

Above: The Bulthaup system of kitchens includes options such as hanging knife racks.

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Above: Teapots occupy one niche; on the left is the Rasymatto Teapot, designed by Sami Ruotsalainen and available from Marimekko; on the right is the cast iron Arare Teapot from Mariage Frères.

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Above: The shadow gap between the edge of the staircase and the wall is deliberate. "It was important to show that we were creating a contemporary addition. There's also a two-millimeter gap between the planks, so you really have a sense of how big they are," says Wright.

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Above: Wright added a curved landing to the staircase, making the narrow space feel more expansive. The chair is another Hans Wegner, the CH44.

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Above: M.C. Escher would have loved this image; the stair appears to have a rounded bottom step, but it's the wall that is curved.

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Above: A stairway niche holds a drawing by one of Wright's young children. "The light comes in handy when I have to go downstairs in the middle of the night because someone is crying," says Wright.

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Above: The master bedroom; a horizontal strip of wood functions as a door handle.

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Above: The guest bedroom features a vintage rocker (an eBay find).

macdonald wright rocking chair 2

Above: An original mantel in the guest room stands in contrast to the pale wood Scandinavian flooring.

parkholme bath stained glass

Above: The bathroom features some of the house's original stained-glass windows, carefully restored. "It's nice to have some of these original details crop up in odd spaces," says Wright.

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Product summary  

macdonald wright teapots
Coffee & Tea

Arare Teapot

€75.00 EUR from Mariage Frères
parkholme stairs 2
Hans J. Wegner

CH44 Chair

More Info from Carl Hansen & Son

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