Mezzanine

Existing House.

The existing apartment is part of a very grand former townhouse in Glasgow’s West End. The brief for this project started as a question of whether it would be possible or indeed desirable to create a mezzanine floor within the existing living room with a new kitchen underneath. From a commercial perspective the relocation of the kitchen to the large living room was attractive as it created another bedroom without comprising the floor area of the apartment. The problem that the project posed, however, was that the ceiling height in the living room was just less than 4 metres in height.

Design Proposals

Our initial thoughts were that the ceiling height was too low to create a mezzanine especially after taking into account the thickness of the mezzanine floor (normally around 300mm). We considered that even if we could get the ceiling height to work, it would be too dark.

The idea then occurred to us that if the floor thickness of a new mezzanine was less than 100mm thick and glazed, not solid, the mezzanine could start to feel less like a new floor and more like a piece of bespoke furniture sitting within the space.

Creating a light weight piece of structure that could not only support 28mm thick structural glass flooring panels but also be less than 100mm thick was a difficult problem but one that we eventually solved working closely with “McKinney Nicholson Associates” – structural engineers.

The finished design is pleasing in its simplicity and as a contrast to the grandeur of the existing apartment. It is due to be completed on site by December 2008.