Piercy & Company

Martello Tower Y

Martello Tower Y
© Edmund Sumner

MARTELLO TOWER Y

Piercy&Company

ARCHITECTS
Piercy&Company

PHOTOGRAPHS
Edmund Sumner

INDUSTRIAL DESIGNERS
Billings Jackson Design

JOINERY
Sam Lucas

FACADE DESIGN
Billings Design Associates

MECHANICAL ENGINEER
Norman Disney & Young

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Price & Myers, JP Chick and Partners

STEELWORK
Commercial Systems International Limited

LOCATION
United Kingdom

CATEGORY
Houses

PROJECT YEAR
2009

Text description provided by architect.

By restoring an 1802 Martello Tower and converting it to a family home, the principles of conservation were pushed beyond preservation, instead aiming to breathe new life into the ‘at risk’ structure.

Martello Tower Y
© Edmund Sumner
Martello Tower Y
© Edmund Sumner

Strategically the intention was to clearly differentiate the old and the new, avoiding pastiche, with the contemporary insertions touching the original fabric as lightly as possible; allowing the heavily textured masonry to be the star.

Designed to be extremely sensitive to the monument and its setting, the new curving roof extension and re-sculpted interior seek to gain creative momentum from the tension between modern requirements and the need for heritage conservation.

Martello Tower Y
© Edmund Sumner
Martello Tower Y
© Edmund Sumner

Converting a Napoleonic era defence tower built in 1808 into a 21st Century private residence was a demanding brief. As a Scheduled Monument on the At Risk register and located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the planning negotiations were matched in complexity by the on-site logistics.

Ultimately however, the conversion won the support of English Heritage who heralded it as an exemplar of how to convert significant historical buildings.

MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION

The tower’s fabric comprises 750,000 bricks but the quality of their construction was not immediately evident. As it was revealed, it set the standard for the design.

Martello Tower Y
© Edmund Sumner
Martello Tower Y
© Edmund Sumner
Martello Tower Y
Ground Floor Plan

The new roof is a 3D curved lightweight structure, constructed of steel and laminated plywood, tethered by five pairs of Macalloy bars. A detailed 3D model was used to create 2D cutting patterns for off-site manufacture.

A skirt of frameless curved glass below the roof expresses the distinction between old and new as well as providing 360 degree views. The roof, set back to minimize visual impact, is clad in a single ply membrane with three roof lights. The system is elemental as it had to be stored and installed from the gun platform.

Martello Tower Y
First Floor Plan
Martello Tower Y
Second Floor Plan

In order to bring light into the basement, six 450mm diameter holes were diamond-core drilled through 4.5m of fully bonded brickwork from just inside the window reveals into the magazine bedroom, utility, bunk room and bathrooms. The two other bedrooms have 60mm holes for ‘Camera Obscura’ views of the countryside to the southwest and northwest.

200mm diameter holes were drilled from the top of the parapet to meet the passive ventilation system leading to the ground floor and basement. These brick ducts provide routes for water, electricity, gas for the kitchen and heating to the roof.

Martello Tower Y
Roof Plan
Martello Tower Y
Detail

They also accommodate the supply and exhaust ducts for the heat recovery ventilation system in the basement and ground floors.

Piercy & Company
T +44 20 74249611
Piercy & Company
The Centro Building, 39 Plender St, London NW1 0DT, United Kingdom