The modern and luxurious Nairn Road Residence was completed in 2014 by David James Architects, and it is located on Nairn Road – a peaceful residential street in Canford Cliffs, Poole, England. The client asked for a home that would boast a timeless architecture, and he wanted it to include as many natural materials as possible. He also asked that the residence would benefit from utmost privacy from the neighboring houses.
The architects managed to fulfill his requirements in full. They created a sublime cavernous entrance hall with tall ceilings and a skylight that floods the entryway with natural light. The different levels are connected via a floating timber staircase with glass railings and walnut treads that are illuminated by LED strips. Private living areas comprise four ensuite bedrooms, and there’s also a cinema room, a study, a separate lounging/dining area, an open plan living room and a double garage.
From the architect:
Nairn Road is a quiet residential street in the sought after area of Canford Cliffs, Poole. This area boasts a sullivan setting and has close proximity to blue flag beaches and the picturesque Poole harbour, which is the second largest natural harbour in the world. The house in question was completed in late 2014, and embraces a contemporary style of architecture. The site is level and then drops away with a steep treed slope bordering onto a neighbouring golf course.
The client’s brief to David James Architects was to create a contemporary house using natural materials, ensuring timeless architecture. It was imperative to provide privacy from neighbouring houses. The house was to have four ensuite bedrooms, with an open plan living area, cinema room, study, separate dinning / lounge area and double garage.
The interior layout creates rooms that could form part of the main open plan feel of the house whilst the clever use of double doors provides the opportunity to create more intimate spaces. The house was designed to have a statement entrance hall, ensuring an impressive sense of arrival. A further feature was to create flow from the house to an outdoor living area. The rear terrace expands the full width of the house and is raised above the ground below, which drops away ensuring a sense of privacy amongst the surrounding treed area.
A key aspect of the project is the impressive cavernous entrance hall with a ceiling height of 6m. This room spans the full length of the house, and becomes the spine of the house connected the floors below and facilitates flow on each level. A sizeable roof light floods light into this space, encompassing a central floating timber staircase with glass balustrading. This appears to float out of the spine stone wall of the house. This same stone is used to clad the exterior of the house, bringing the interior and exterior together. This theme of using stone cladding creates a sense of solidity, enhancing the dynamic open timber staircase. Walnut treads are expressed with a warm glow from LED strip lighting thereby ensuring the floating effect. The double volume space is broken with first floor bridges connecting the upper rooms.
From the road, the house in question is very distinct with a subtle palette of colours created from the use of a mixture of stone, render, glass and aluminium, ensuring striking architectural forms. The boundary fence and gate provide a strong contrast with iroko timber, while the stone piers link back to the solidity of the house itself.
This design meets the client’s brief of creating a contemporary house using natural materials, which will ensure timeless architecture, while still providing privacy from neighboring houses, and has all the accommodation as would be expected in a house of this caliber.
Nairn Road is an impressive yet very versatile family home.