Mountain View in Sydenham: take a tour of the Disney-inspired Don’t Move Improve shortlisted renovation
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Trainspotting and Disneyland might not seem natural reference points when mood-boarding your dream family home, but architect Mat Barnes thinks we should look beyond the other side of the hedge for home inspiration — and he put his money where his mouth is when it came to renovating his own house.
The founder of Can architects (can-site.co.uk) became fascinated by photos taken during the construction of Disneyland’s Matterhorn ride and of fake mountain scenery while working on the extension of the Edwardian house in Sydenham, south-east London, where he lives with his wife and two young children.
As a result, a huge cut-out of a mountain range is mounted on the flat roof of the extended living area, lending the project its name: Mountain View.
The aerated aluminium parapet is supported by a network of blue trusses left exposed in the lounge below — a “tongue-in-cheek” gesture that belies the weight of the structure.
“We came across these images of the ride being built, and they’ve made this steel structure and built the real mountain fakery from the top,” recalls Barnes. “I loved the idea of elevating this heavy mountain on an unfeasibly thin structure.”
An unusual interior
Inside, the home is jam-packed with highly personal references and eccentricities. A scene shot in a derelict warehouse in the film Trainspotting inspired the retention of the half-demolished back wall of the original house.
It’s been painted mint green and used to display pot plants to frame a view of the garden through the glass doors beyond, giving the living space the feeling of a stage set.
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Red and white poles positioned like columns throughout the space are based on the ranging poles used for marking out construction sites.
They highlight, rather than disguise, the level difference between the garden, extension and original house and also mark out zones — a lounge adjacent the garden, the kitchen and dining area and the original house that continues beyond steps mosaicked with the saying “waste not, want not”.
“A bit of nostalgia, my grandmother always used to say that in the kitchen,” explains Barnes.
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The project was a chance to experiment with unexpected material choices, as well as trialling some of the newest ones on the market.
The kitchen cabinets and surfaces by Smile Plastics (smile-plastics.com) are made from old chopping boards and milk bottle tops that have been melted down to create colourful, recycled materials, while the dining table, with its shiny top and spiky rubber legs, is a sensorially compelling creation by Barnes.
The walls are covered in a combination of roughcast render, more typically found outside, and chequerboard tiles that reference those originally in the property.
A lounge at the front of the house embellished with chunks of cornicing and mouldings mounted like artefacts — influenced by Barnes’s recent commission at the Sir John Soane’s Museum in Holborn — is painted, furnished and carpeted in deep blue. An original fireplace is the only feature to escape this unifying treatment.
The adjoining staircase has been opened up and a new skylight set overhead to brighten the entrance and first floor, which has been rearranged to squeeze in four bedrooms and two bathrooms. The bannisters and exposed rafters are painted in pastel tones in a transition away from the vivid colours of the ground floor.
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The punchy colours, playful forms and bold material choices seen in this, and a group of new forward-thinking home renovations, have led to cries of a “Postmodern revival”. But Barnes is keen to distance himself from this claim and instead prefers “multiform”, a newly coined name for this brand of contemporary architecture.
“People always say, ‘You’re very Po-Mo’. But I see Po-Mo as a historic style of the Seventies-Eighties, so I thought multiform was quite a good sidestep to that. It gives enough space for the ideas to breathe and is not prescriptive.”
What it cost
The couple spent £220,000 on the renovation and extension of their home, which they bought for £600,000 in August 2019 — comparable properties in the area fetched £737,000 last year according to Rightmove.
The house had been empty for several years, having been inherited by someone living overseas, and the couple were tipped off to the opportunity by Barnes’s in-laws, who live next door.
“We got this house for an incredibly low price. But it was the maximum we could afford. I think it was £150,000 cheaper than one that sold down the street. You think these things only ever happen to other people,” he says.
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Barnes’s myriad reference points have created a joyfully colourful and gritty home extension that looks like it’s been as fun to design as live in. It’s a showcase for what Can architects hopes to do for other homes, and earned it a spot on the shortlist for this year’s Don’t Move Improve! awards, which recognises the most inspirational London house extensions.
“When we think about what would change, there’s very little,” he says. “I probably wouldn’t build the kitchen myself. It was a bit of a pain to make!”
If you’ve been trapped at home contemplating an overhaul to better reflect your personality, Barnes recommends pausing before typing “extension” into Pinterest.
Look outside the world of architecture for inspiration, whether that be scenes from films, music or photographs. The company is currently working on a home that references the zig-zag flooring from the mystery series Twin Peaks, for instance.
“It’s sometimes difficult to know what is possible with a home,” says Barnes. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be high-brow or architectural.”
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Get the look
Team
- Structural engineer: Hardman Structural Engineers
- Main contractor: Catalin London Ltd
- Kitchen maker: Harry Lawson
Materials
- Foamed aluminium: Alusion by Cymat
- Worktop and kitchen fronts: Smile Plastics
- Survey Point encaustic tiles: CDJackfield
- Terrazzo floor: Inopera (roughly £50/m2)
- Floor, wall and bathroom tiles: Grestec (roughly £30/m2)
- Dining table top: Vlaze
- Glass sliding doors: Fineline Aluminium
- Casement windows: Velfac