Client: Bajar Properties
Location: Southampton, Hampshire
Value: £2,000,000

Mede House

The client’s brief was to transform an existing 3 storey, shallow plan office block into a residential development that would tap into the local student market. To complicate matters, to comply with local planning policy, 40% of the office space would have to be retained.

To tackle this, TKL Architects created a two-storey extension on top of the original building, which not only provided additional floor space, but also gave the building the bulk it previously lacked to suit its footprint. In addition, the gap beneath the buildings piloti was infilled to create additional commercial and ancillary accommodation to ground the building and present a building line at pedestrian level.

In total 45 new flats have been created, sat either side of a central corridor. At the upper levels the footprint is recessed to create small garden terraces, but also to ensure that the flats do not overlook the neighbouring residences.

The street elevation has been formalised by emphasising the building’s structural bays, creating a vertical emphasis previously lacking. The rear elevation is a more playful mix of window forms and coloured geometric shapes. The new stair towers are clad in opaque glass panels to stand out at night.

The materials have been chosen so as to put minimal additional weight on to the original structure. Generally, insulated render is used to over clad the existing building as it is lightweight and offers a varied colour palette. The roof is clad in zinc to create a capping to the top of the building.