The breath-taking single-storey home, designed in the 1960s by Richard Rogers in Wimbledon, London, has been recently restored by Gumuchdjian Architects and is now a most fitting environment for the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (Harvard GSD) fellowship residents as well as a relaxed, spacious setting for on-going events and seminars.
22 Parkside or Rogers House as it’s also known, was a blueprint for industrialised housing and a radical departure from more common building methods of the time. Gifted to the University by Lord Rogers and Ruth Rogers, the importance of this building is marked by its Grade 2* heritage listing status, and it beautifully demonstrates the architect’s interest of urbanism within architecture.
The house follows a modular format that would allow for the renewal of technology and developing needs over time made possible by the long-life steel portal frame structure, giving the house its iconic appearance. Additionally, the property is characterised by the then-radical use of fully glazed facades to create a contemporary composition of courtyards, gardens and linked interior space.
Gumuchdjian Architects, whose founder Philip Gumuchdjian worked alongside the Richard Rogers Partnership for 18 years before setting up his own practice, led the recent renovation. The ethos was to maintain the design’s character rather than the fabric of the building itself.
“Gumuchdjian Architects’ proposition to Harvard GSD was to return the house to its original condition, albeit modified to their specific needs,” explains Philip Gumuchdjian. “As ever, the success of the project was entirely supported by the vision and sensitivity of the client. Our seemingly simple proposition, tempered by the wish to exploit the advantages of modern materials, resulted in the replacement of the entire roof and all of its asbestos-filled external walls, the demolition of recently added buildings, the removal of new internal partitions, the replacement of its servicing system, the refurbishment and redecoration of the joinery and the reconstruction of the garden in its entirety”.
The renovated Wimbledon House includes two wet rooms within the lodge, fully clad in HI-MACS® surfaces. Fresh, clean and contemporary, these showering spaces offer practicality combined with a sleek, seamless finish perfect for modern living. Strong, hardwearing and aesthetically appealing, HI-MACS® is solid throughout. Virtually scratchproof, it is also non-porous, making it easy to clean and resistant to stains, moisture and sunlight – the ultimate choice for the legacy of modern design.
“At 22 Parkside, we required a complete wet room solution for the new en-suite shower rooms in the ‘lodge’ building. The solution had to be of high quality and aesthetically pure, while being equally robust in use to complement the original 1968 design. The result is an apparently seamless custom-made wet room material, lining the shower room walls and floors,” says Michael Ramwell, Project Architect for Gumuchdjian Architects.
