A five-storey, four-bedroomed townhouse on Powerscroft Road in Clapton E5 has been totally refurbished to create an elegant and fashionable home that incorporates and celebrates a blend of Victorian and contemporary architecture with modern-day living. The house has been totally transformed and now offers an open-plan cooking, dining and living space on the lower ground level created from what was previously a simple basement. This also interconnects directly with an external patio with dining option and a raised, newly-landscaped bijou garden space beyond. In addition to this a mansard extension incorporates another large bedroom and en-suite bathroom on a supplementary fifth level as well.
The lighting scheme installed confers added impact on a modern design in the form of both visual continuity and operational reliability in all the main living spaces. It also offers fully dimmable lighting that enables the creation of the right ambience for the intended activity and any contrasting scenes required. Clearly, an LED-based system was a must, with the selection of the right architectural light fittings the most important choice of all.
The resulting scheme harmoniously brings together old and new whilst filling the home with exactly the right levels of light in the right places and at the right time besides an all-enveloping warmth throughout. Commenting on the installation, Fabio A P Cristini states: “The scheme had to be in keeping with the fusion of Victorian and contemporary architecture whilst satisfying the desire to adopt a hierarchical approach between spaces providing visual and sensory cues to their uses”. Circulation spaces were treated with decorative wall lights whilst all entertaining spaces and bedrooms have a higher contrast lighting concept with pinhole downlights. Bathroom lighting instead was based around a diffuse lighting concept with higher brightness flush downlights. Yet even at the brightest level the lighting still exudes warmth.
The principal living areas of the property feature the understated elegance of Mood and Trybeca recessed light fittings in a quiet, embossed matt white finish consistent with the tranquillity of the overall design. The more task-oriented Yori tubes instead announce their presence with pinpoint precision over a contemporary marble-topped island work-surface. A variety of sizes in a round and trimless format throughout help ensure that all the architectural light fittings afford discreet installation alongside the all-important “warm dimming” function that enables the user to set the surrounding colour temperature between 1700K and 3000K to match the required mood.
The installation as a whole clearly demonstrates that lighting is key when it comes to setting the right ambience and this is true of every space in the house. Lighting has to serve a central, functional purpose but it should also sit well with and, better still, enhance its surroundings where possible.