The Button Factory
The existing building, a Victorian brick warehouse, it was originally used as a button factory although in more recent years the building was used as a church.
We stripped out all the recent additions and brought the building back to its original materials, the brick walls, the timber floor boards on the upper floors and the concrete floor on the ground floor.
The existing windows were a mix-match of original single-glazed steel windows and PVC windows. These have all been replaced with new double-glazed aluminium windows that replicate the style of the original widows but offer better thermal performances.
We intended to create a contemporary building extension that follows an industrial aesthetic that complements the heritage of the original button factory. The proposed concept is that every apartment has its own independent roof profile creating different typologies and greater visual interest in the perspective views to the building. The roof extension has a combination of flat, saw tooth and pitched roofs.
The extension has been constructed entirely in CLT cross laminated timber, leaving some of the interior walls exposed and cladding the exterior with corrugated metal sheets.
The existing building has been divided into eight commercial studios. The new extension is divided into three flats, one single bed and two double bed.
The three apartments slit transversely to create, within the existing roof boundary, spaces for large terraces.
The building has achieved BREEAM rate Good.
