Beside the seaside

5 April 2012

Since the glory days of the Victorian era, with the exception perhaps of a brief Art Deco flourish, British seaside architecture has been, well, all at sea.

In particular, for a country with such a lengthy coastline, it is sad to see how much of our seaside housing is ordinary, even drab. But every once in a while there comes along a piece of design that has real cork-popping pizzazz, a building created for pleasure that looks completely at home down at the beach.

Developer Romy Summerskill's new south-coast home, close to Bexhillon-Sea, East Sussex, is one such a rare example. It is everything a seaside house should be; this is a feel-good place, furnished with fantastic sea views and with generous space to accommodate all those friends and family who will be lining up for visits.

Buried deep inside its contemporary exterior of aluminium, glass and weathered, silvery iroko cladding, is the shell of the undistinguished Seventies house that once stood on the site.

Summerskill, managing director of Acorn Homes, and her husband, John, also in the property business, found the place after a long search. "When we were children both of us used to come to the south coast for family holidays, and now we have children of our own and want them to experience some of that fun," she says.

The family is based in London and plans to use the house for holidays and weekends. The hunt for suitable property took them along a huge swathe of the coast as far west as Hayling Island in Hampshire, and then they saw an ad for a sad-looking house directly overlooking Cooden Beach, west of Bexhill.

"At first we thought we would just make a few changes and smarten up the place," says Summerskill. But their ambitions grew. "If you are in the business, there is a tendency to think you might as well take down that wall or knock through there, because you know it's all possible."

To help realise the couple's dream home, Nazar Sayigh and Stas Louca of Glas Architects were called in. The London-based practice has worked with Summerskill on a number of her developments, many of them in Bermondsey, where Acorn was among the first to spot the area's potential.

Together they created Bermondsey Exchange, an old tannery now a mixed-use development and, more recently, Glas has been working with Summerskill on two other SE1 projects, in Bermondsey Street and Newham's Row, which combine commercial with residential space.

"Romy and John had strong ideas about what they wanted to achieve at their new home," says Sayigh. "The existing house had small rooms; it didn't make much of the views and there was a strange attic room at the top. So our job was to develop their ideas, open up the place and suggest details, such as the iroko cladding."

The architects drew inspiration from American beach houses. "We really couldn't find much to inspire us in the UK," says Louca. "It seems strange that so many homes on the coast look like regular suburban houses that just happen to be by the beach."

As plans evolved for this confident, contemporary home with its bold geometric outline and cantilevered decks, the architects and owners braced themselves for the near-certainty of having their planning application turned down. However, despite planning officers recommending refusal, the local planning committee decided to give it the go-ahead.

"We were absolutely stunned," says Sayigh. "One of the committee members stood up and gave an impassioned speech about how this building was absolutely in the spirit of the famous 1930s De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill and argued that his fellow comm the design. And they did."

The transformation work was so extensive it took 13 months to complete. That curious attic has becom accommodation and a wraparound terrace added to create the deep terrace at firs living space downstairs, and almost all of the ground floor opened up with the dining area forming and living space.

Horizontal steel louvres above the windows welcome shade on hot days. Nice details include a generous hallway and large landings, a substantial roof allows light atrium, and the kitchen.

The house is approached by a road set back from the beach and here the exterior has few windows and is clad for the most part in weathered iroko. It stands in complete contrast to the sea-facing side of the property, which explodes open with floor-to-ceiling windows and doors, providing views and on a clear day it's possible to see as far as Beachy Head.

The door system used downstairs is particularly impressive; the hinged concertina panels fold fully back to link the dining area to the terrace and in the living room two entire walls dissolve to open the room to the outdoors.

"Right from the start we were advised to find the best possible doors and windows because this is in such an exposed position open to the sea and gales," says Summerskill.

"We chose a German company for some of the windows and then a British firm for the rest because we were assured both designs would be able to cope with extreme conditions.But on a visit shortly after the fitting we noticed just about all the British windows were already leaking. They have now been replaced by more from the German company."

The additional work took months and involved stripping off all the classing before adding the new Solarlux system. Negotiations continue with the UK firm.

The interior is simple and comfortable and easily maintained "Because we like in an Edwardian house in London, I wanted something that was a complete contrast - open-plan and light," says Summerskill.

Finishes are reduced right down to a basic palette of white painted plaster and maple that is used for floors, skirting, doors, fitted cupboards in the athrooms and kitchen, stairs and handrails.

Delicious splashes of colourare added with balckcurrant panels in the kitchen and a slightly softer version of the same colour for curtains and upholstery in the living area.

Summerskill says: "I wanted to avoid being corny and using sea colours such as blue or freen." She has also incorporated lots of ideas from her company's development projects. These tend to be burban and contemporary in style, featuring fluid spaces, large windows, balconies and roof lights.

Unlike so many seaside homes along the south coast, which look decidedly peaky, this is a house with real spirit and a sense of fun; it makes you feel glad to be beside the seaside.

Glas Architects (020 7378 7755)

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