Wrap House is located in Surrey and sits within a group of houses on the former grounds of Eashing Park, once the country seat of Exchequer Judge Lord Penzance. 
 
The scheme involved the ‘upcycling’ of a 1960s house which was in a poor state of repair. 
 
The existing building was cold and prone to leaks, with a dysfunctional conservatory that was hot in summer and freezing in winter. A lack of spatial coherence and connection to the surrounding landscape also affected the enjoyment and use of the existing house - in particular the bedroom wing presented an austere blank wall to the garden. 
 
Our initial brief was to rebuild the conservatory and re-zinc the roof, however we advised the client that the same funds could be used to reimagine the entire house, if the conservatory was demolished and the metal cladding used for the walls instead of the roof. The typical approach to this project would be to demolish and rebuild, but we pursued a more sustainable approach of upcycling the building by wrapping it in insulation and renewing the interiors. 
 
The existing building had been altered at various times in its history, at differing levels of expertise, and this legacy gave the building a disjointed and dilapidated appearance, Nevertheless the underlying forms of the building were dynamic, and we carefully re-articulated these forms, accentuating them by extruding the roof overhangs to create solar shading. The main forms were wrapped in stainless steel, designed to create abstracted reflections of the landscape and sky, forming a colourful, shimmering, envelope. Dark zinc fascias to the flat roofs contrast and articulate the composition.