Wimbledon house in London, UK, designed by Lord Rogers in 1968, was gifted to Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2015 to provide both a residence for the Richard Rogers Fellowship, and GSD's new venue for lectures, symposia, and other events. Restored by British architect Philip Gumuchdjian and landscape architect Todd Longstaffe-Gowan since 2015, the house premiered yesterday, on June 27.

Philip Gumuchdjian, commented “Parkside is not just an iconic, flexible machine for living, nor simply a historic experimental building that foretold the architect’s future work; it was also a home with a unique memory, patina, and aura. Conserving these qualities within a wholly refurbished twenty-first-century building tailored to Harvard’s new use was our aim and hopefully the achievement of the team’s work.”

Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, whom re-designed the garden context  from the street front to the rear of the property, notes “Parkside is a total work of art, where the house, gardens, and interiors were conceived in concert to form a unified whole. The alternating rhythm of pavilions and garden courts contribute considerably to the striking theatricality and luminosity of the ensemble; the outdoor rooms are  at once boundless and enveloping. Our aim has been to restore the original balance  of the 1960s composition to better reflect the architect’s original intentions, and  to recover the richness, rhythm, and textures of the landscape that give Parkside its particular charm.”

With its fully-glazed facades, Parkside 22 is one of the icons of continental modernism, blending the interior and exterior, allowing its materiality to blend in with the overall composition of the environment.

The architects returned the house to an approximation of its arrangement in the 1990’s and integrated modern materials wherever possible. The servicing system, the roof, and all of its asbestos-filled external walls were replaced. The recently-added buildings were demolished, new internal partitions removed, and all joinery and furniture have been refurbished as well.

"The house was conceived as a kit of parts in an age before such concepts were commonplace. Key to this was the idea of a permanent armature (structure) that was cad with shorter life elements such as the panels, glazing etc.. Our approach raised significant conservation dilemmas as orthodox conservation generally requires the preservation or like-for-like replacement of historic fabric. With the guidance and support of Paddy Pugh (John McAslan +Partners and ex-English Heritage) the practice developed an approach that focused on protecting the ‘character’ and special architectural interest of the building rather than its fabric."—Philip Gumuchdjian