Can a Water Tower be a House?

KODA Architects Hereford have developed proposals to convert a former water tower in Worcestershire into a new house

KODA Architects in Hereford have been working up proposals to convert a former water tower to a large family home overlooking the Malvern Hills in rural Worcestershire. 

The water tower was built during the Edwardian period and occupies a dominant location in the flat surrounding landscape. Tanks once filled with sand and lime filtered the water, making it safe for drinking, before a gravity fed system once supplied water to near by villages. 

The site became redundant since the advent of a pressurised water systems across the country and has since laid dormant. In the drawing board, this week, KODA architects have been looking at how this surviving utilitarian structure may be converted to accommodated a new family with expansive views over the Worcestershire Countryside. 

KODA architects have explored retaining the mass of the original water filtration tanks and providing a subservient super structure. The aim is to maximise the views out in the first floor whilst retaining as much of the original structure as possible. 

Using the mass of the filtration tanks, the lower ground level has a mass which grounds the proposal to its surroundings. On top, a new light weight super structure is proposed with glazing to take full advantage of the surrounding landscape.

Main living areas of sitting room, snug and kitchen are located on the first floor which has an open and light feeling, taking full advantage of the outstanding views over the Worcestershire countryside and to the Malvern Hills. Adding to this contrast, KODA architects have employed light-weight materials to including timber cladding and glass to differentiate between super structure and rusticated lower ground floor. A projecting zinc roof structure, which is under drawn in a rich red cherry cladding, sheltering the large expanses of glazing from the summer sunshine and the surrounding terrace. 

At a contrast to the superstructure, the bedrooms, evening sitting room and back of house areas are grounded within the massing and bulk of the filtration tanks and bunded structure. This reflects a change in pace from day to day activities to evening routines and a need for a more confined and soothing environment whilst at night. 

To minimise landscape impact, a three bay garage, studio and driveway are sunken into the landscape. The garage structure is topped with a wild flower meadow. To the south a lap pool offers an interesting opportunity for reflections on the waters surfacewhilst you relax on the evening terrace.

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We are enormously proud of this proposal and we are looking forward to seeing the finished article onsite, hopefully very soon.

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Happy New Year

KODA Architects Hereford Wishes All Its Clients, Suppliers and Colleagues a Happy New Year

What a year 2020 has been for us all! There has been many ups and downs with the Pandemic, lockdowns, the tier system but we have had the clap for carers and not forgetting Captain Tom. The beginning of 2020 seems a long time ago and reflecting on the year just gone, we achieved so much.

Looking back this year, our success in our first year continued as we turned a milestone one year old. We have been lucky to have a wide range of clients with a wide range of projects and buildings to work on. We have been successful in numerous planning applications, listed building consents and faculty consents as well as the start and completion of projects onsite.

This year we have completed repairs and extensive refurbishment of a Grade II* listed building in the centre of Cheltenham as well as the completion of a suite of holiday cabins in rural Herefordshire, with fantastic views over Hay Bluff. This trend set to continue throughout this year with some very exciting projects in the pipeline with the start of several projects onsite, the first of which is beginning at the end of January. 

This year we have worked together with a wide range of new and existing suppliers and colleagues and are thankful for their help in our design process. We look forward to seeing a new mixed use scheme in centre of Hereford, the start of repairs to a country estate house and numerous residential building projects as well as repairs to a grade I listed church in Herefordshire.

2020 has been an exciting and busy year for us at KODA architects and we look forward to an even busier year, next year. We wish our clients, suppliers and colleagues a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.