LIGHT TO THE BASEMENT
Besides meeting the normal functional requirements for a dwelling for two people, two cars can be garaged inside this mews house from 1997. The house is on three levels. On the 1st floor are a bathroom and a bedroom. The basement houses a lower car deck, together with two living rooms and a kitchen, and at entrance level there are an upper car deck, the entrance hall and a small patio with large green trees. A number of windows at ground level conclude the paved patio and cast light down into the basement rooms.
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MOVING ARCHITECTURE
According to the architect Seth Stein, it is the hydraulic double-decker car lift that makes this house unique.
“The flexibility of the living environment, and the ‘surprise’ factor when you realise that the Perspex floor may be raised to reveal a living room below is quite exceptional”, says Seth Stein.
The car-lift’s usual oil-stained metal has undergone a transformation. To integrate the lift in the building, the upper car deck is clad with limestone. The lower car deck consists of a steel frame in which transparent acrylic panels have been inserted. The transparent floor provides yet another source of daylight in the basement.
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