Marylebone Terrace Gets Thrilling ‘Secondary Skin’ From Regent’s University Students
Ten final year Interior Design BA (Hons) students at Regent’s University London have wowed local residents with their plans for a much needed facelift to the rear façade of a group of 1960s terraced houses in Marylebone.
The street makeover project – ‘Secondary Skin’ – was set up as a design competition in partnership with the Devonshire Place Mews Residents’ Association (DPMRA) for Regent’s students as part of their six-week interior design module.
Speaking at a public display of the students’ final designs, held at Regent’s University London this month (November 2015), Chair of the DPMRA, Matthew Cohen, said:
“This project covers 31 properties between 13-27 Beaumont Street, and 25-40 Devonshire Place Mews, and we’ve been thrilled by the creativity and concepts on show.
“The students have been amazing and their work has given residents a real flavour of what can be achieved if we all work together.
“A key objective of the competition has been to encourage members of the DPMRA to buy-in to the street makeover and implement the winning student’s design.
Matthew announced the winner of the competition as Zoe Bailey for her ‘Mid-Century Muse’ concept, alongside runner-up, Ahmed Omar, for his ‘Mod 50’ design.
Says Zoe “I listened carefully to the client’s comments about how they wanted a mid-century design, as well as the fact that the site is very dark at night and has lots of clutter, including parked cars. I wanted to beautify and unify it. One key feature of Mid-Century Muse is the carport, which camouflages vehicles from the street and helps create structure to the buildings.”
Ahmed explained “The rear façade of the Mews doesn’t have any architectural detail so I stripped it back into basic geometry and lines, then transformed this into something three-dimensional. I was inspired by materials including blackened steel, glass and used a matt grey colour scheme.”
Mark Gower, Programme Director of Interior Design at Regent’s University London, concluded:
“This live project has genuine community spirit behind it and has offered an authentic experience for the students, allowing them to have a client and listen to a brief, carry out a site visit, and work on achieving buy-in from the residents involved. We have high hopes the winning design will become a reality.”
The Secondary Skin design exhibition will run in the Knapp Gallery at Regent’s University London until the end of January 2016.
For further details: http://www.regents.ac.uk/about/the-knapp/exhibitions/secondary-skin.aspx
