Sanchez Benton remodels 1970s council house for an actress

With a small budget of £164,200, Sanchez Benton's project near London’s Elephant and Castle for an actress client focuses on thermal improvement through ‘finding architectural potential in the responses to the required upgrades’, according to the architects.

Enter AJ Small Projects 2021 – deadline this Friday 15 January

All interventions explore the architectural language of the ‘infrathin’, a word coined by conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp to describe barely perceptible interventions.

Where possible, materials have been retained, adapted and reused to minimise waste. The proposal celebrates the details of mass-produced housing of this period by only using off-the-shelf sheet materials found within the existing house.

Two new steel beams and a column create a new centre for the house, the colour of which references the green paint seen on a railway bridge nearby.

Neutral colours, open plan spaces and a folding door separating the kitchen, allows the space to be reimagined as a rehearsal studio when needed.

See the other entries to AJ Small Projects 2020 in the AJ Buildings Library

Project data

Start on site July 2018
Completion date May 2019
Client Private
Architect Sanchez Benton
Floor area 68m²
Total cost £164,200
Procurement JCT Minor Works 2016
Structural engineer Price & Myers
Main contractor Solid Crew Construction