>A007 Ethelburga Tower

Following the success of the sensitive remodelling of a 1957 Span apartment, the studio was appointed to provide design and detailed construction information for the significant refurbishment of a mid century park-side apartment.

Situated within the purpose built Ethelburga Tower, the apartment faces Battersea Park and beyond, to the currently decommissioned Battersea Power Station.

Our proposal plays on this relationship and seeks to be an hybrid of sorts, shifting between the urban cityscape and green parkland context, melding richer and more robust detailing with those details currently present in the tower.

In the final scheme, kitchen accommodation is contained within a box of timber; a nod toward the enveloping character of a treehouse. We then sought both spatially and through material application to ‘loosen’ the kitchen and integrate a study area by the window; making the park’s relationship with the apartment explicit.

Further moves include the subtle reworking of the former second bedroom to function flexibly as either a comforting snug or guest bedroom, denoted by an almost rural panel and batten detail.  A new pair of sliding doors enable, for the first time, the occupant to see the southern cityscape on entry into the apartment.