Office S&M takes aim at "generic suburbia" with powder blue mews block in Kent

Blue fibre cement weatherboarding and porthole windows lend a "coastal character" to Goldsmith Mews, an infill housing block in Kent designed by London architecture practice Office S&M.

Located in the village of Chalk – famous as a holiday and honeymoon destination of Charles Dickens – the block provides four homes on a site formerly occupied by derelict garages.

Aiming to counter what Office S&M calls the "generic suburbia" of the village's more recent architecture, the studio looked back to the traditional weatherboarded cottages typical to the area in Dickens' day, which informed the block's pale blue cladding.

In keeping with this historical reference, the project was named Goldsmith Mews after Sarah Goldsmith, the first landlady of the Lord Nelson pub, which neighboured the site until the 1920s.

"The development channels both the memory of the site and the coastal character of Kent, while departing from the area's conventional brick vernacular," the studio told Dezeen.

"Kentish vernacular was exemplified by weatherboarding, which would have been present when Charles Dickens holidayed and honeymooned two doors up the road, but much of this has been lost."

"We wanted to bring this vernacular back in a contemporary way, referencing and acknowledging what was there, and making it the best we can do today," it added.

Goldsmith Mews is fronted by an undercroft created by partially raising its first floor on pilotis. The sawtooth form of the first floor above shades a storage and entrance area with porthole front doors – a nod to the work of French modernist Jean Prouvé.

Contrasting the pale blue shade of the fibre cement cladding and metal roofing above, the ground floor of the block has been finished in a shade of "buttery yellow", which was also used for a horizontal band demarcating the first-floor level.

"The contemporary dusty blue and buttery yellow colour palette has been carefully chosen to avoid the material being viewed as entirely traditional," Office S&M said.

"It helps the roof and walls read in a cohesive way, further blurring the lines between floors and making the scale of the building indeterminate."

"Finally, it articulates the difference between the new development and the old suburbia, creating a clearer link to the past and also the possible future of housing," it added.

Above, the sawtooth plan of the block gives the first and second-floor bedrooms of each home access to northern sunlight and views towards the Thames in the distance, at the same time minimising overlooking both to and from the neighbouring properties.

The kitchen and dining areas occupy the smaller ground floor of each home, where they open onto a row of gardens. Above, the first-floor living areas and main bedrooms look out across this garden through large windows.

"The layout of the homes is designed to provide as much flexibility for non-traditional family structures as possible, as intergenerational and co-habiting families grow," the studio said.

"The mews typology leads to a first-floor living room, with a third bedroom on this floor, providing the flexibility for families to have two floors of living spaces and two floors of bedrooms within a three-storey home," it added.

Founded by Stewart and Hugh McEwen in 2013, Office S&M frequently uses form and colour to create bold contrasts with often suburban settings.

Recently, the studio looked to 1950s cake advertisements to inform the pastel palette of a renovation in London, wrapped by a wavy garden fence.

The photography is by French+Tye.

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