Medina House was built in 1894 as a former men’s bath house. The building suffered from neglect, exposure to the elements, and arson attacks in 2013 and 2014 before being acquired by our client in 2015. By that time, little fabric of historic importance was remained.
An important part of the brief was to retain the essential character of the existing building while fulfilling the functions of a modern family home. Initially, our client’s intention was to retain Medina House, however, over the course of the design process proved to be unworkable due to the condition of the existing building.
Our approach was guided by the need to preserve the heritage of Medina House and its historical value for the local area. We have aimed to do this within the constraints of what is reasonable, sensible and possible, given the years of erosion and degradation that have badly affected the building. We Introduced a new fine and robust architecture that is sympathetic to its context but retains its own unique integrity and language, in the spirit of the original Medina Baths as befits this prominent site. As well as integrating a high-performance envelope with sustainable technologies to create a low energy building that is designed to last.
