A brick bay with arched openings sits close to the street, while the rest of the house slips back and changes material. That shift sets the tone for this new build home 1930s modern mix: one part speaks in the language of the 1930s, the other turns to steel, black zinc and afrormosia wood. The result is not a split personality but a clear sequence of volumes, each one taking a different role in the street view and in the deeper garden-facing side.

From a difficult plot to a workable plan

The project began with a search for an existing building to buy and adapt, but the site that emerged was a former garage. After the plot was acquired and divided, the design could move forward. Before any building work could start, the garage had to be demolished and the soil cleaned up. The ground was heavily contaminated and needed to be made suitable for construction. Those early delays gave the design team time to develop the plans and work through the permit process before the build itself could begin.

That long start is part of the story of the house. Nothing about the first phase was quick: there were procedures, demolition and remediation before the structure could rise. The finished home keeps that drawn-out beginning in the background, but you can still read the care taken in the way the volumes are placed and in the way the materials are assigned to each part of the building.

A brick front and a quieter modern volume

The front portion follows the 1930s style brick facade with arched openings that the planning rules asked for. Brickwork gives this part of the house weight against the street, and the tuit gable shape reinforces that reference without making it literal. It is a clear, readable face, set up to relate to the surrounding houses rather than compete with them. The arched openings soften the brick surface, while the vertical proportions of the gable keep the composition compact.

Behind that first volume, the house opens into a more contemporary piece. The set-back volume is formed in steel, black zinc and afrormosia wood. It repeats the tuit gable design, but the material shift changes its presence completely. Instead of brick, the edge is drawn in metal and wood. Black grey aluminium frames and black zinc roof details sharpen the silhouette further, so the whole composition reads as one house with two distinct registers rather than a single block pushed through the plot.

Steel, zinc and wood in a deliberate sequence

The modern volume does not sit as an afterthought. It is offset from the street-facing part, and that setback makes the material contrast legible from the start. A steel frame above the roof terrace carries the same gable outline again, this time lifted into the air. That move turns the familiar roof shape into something lighter and more open, especially when seen against the sky and the glazed openings nearby. The black steel balcony frame and the dark roof edges keep the composition tight.

At the rear, the glazing widens and the house becomes more open to the garden. Large glass openings with garden view pull daylight deep into the interior and make the switch from brick to metal feel practical rather than decorative. The frame above the terrace continues the roof line, so the modern part of the house is not isolated from the older reference. It answers the first volume in a different material set, but the same outline keeps linking the two together.

The stair hall as the clearest interior gesture

Inside, the stair hall is the most immediate feature. From both outside and in, it catches the eye because the treads are made from old oak wine barrels. That surface gives the stair a dense grain and a darkened tone that stands apart from the lighter walls around it. The staircase works as a visible spine through the house, and the open staircase interior design allows views through and around it instead of closing off the plan.

The kitchen, designed by the owners themselves, sits alongside that stair hall and forms the other key point in the plan. In this part of the house, the palette turns to blue gray modern kitchen cabinetry and a stone-look worktop. The colour is restrained, but it sits well against the wood and metal nearby. Because the kitchen is placed close to the stair and the dining area, the rooms do not read as separate boxes; they connect through the voids and level changes that shape the interior.

Height differences that shape the rooms

The house uses changes in floor level to create spatial depth. A vide at the front elevation brings a vertical opening into the plan, and the open stair strengthens that sense of movement between storeys. The ceiling height at the kitchen reaches 2900 mm, while the lowered floor toward the garden raises the internal volume there to 3500 mm. Those measurements are felt more than they are read: the rooms stretch differently depending on where you stand and which direction you look.

Above the dining table, the vide rises to a full 6000 mm. That height is reinforced by a tall, striking window on the south side, which brings sun into the upper void and gives the room a sharper vertical edge. Rather than relying on decoration, the interior uses proportion, light and level changes to set the atmosphere. The stair, the kitchen and the dining space all sit within that larger section, so the route through the house stays open and easy to follow.

Details that keep the house grounded

Black grey aluminium windows, black zinc dormers and the steel-framed terrace all push the house toward a more contemporary reading, yet the 1930s reference never disappears. The brick front, the arched openings and the tuit gable design keep the street side anchored. Seen together, the exterior reads as a measured layering of old and new cues, not as a collage of unrelated parts. The materials are different, but the lines are controlled and direct.

What makes the project memorable is the way it treats familiar elements at different scales. A gable becomes brick on one side and steel on the other. A staircase is given treads cut from wine barrels. A lowered floor opens the kitchen toward the garden. Even the large glazing is not just for light; it frames the shift from a contained street-facing volume to a more open rear side. The house carries its 1930s references into a clearly contemporary composition without forcing them into one fixed image.

Photography: Valentina Buonanno