ASK AN ARCHITECT ZAC MONRO
Award-winning London practice Zac Monro Architects specialises in transforming traditional houses into light-filled contemporary homes. Monro is also the brains behind the architectural transformations in Channel 4 series ‘Inside Out Homes’
What inspired you to become an architect? When I was young, I used to build shelters when we went on holiday, burrowing into hedges or using driftwood found on the beach. I had a sense that you could do some good if you were an architect. I later found out that it was one of the hardest things to study – but when a teacher told me I wouldn’t be able to do it, I thought ‘oh yeah, I’ll show you’. How can architects bring value to housing
design? I think that the UK must be one of the only European countries where houses are regularly built without architects: everywhere else it seems obvious that you need one, but here it’s seen as a luxury. The point of an architect is twofold: to avoid mistakes, and to make sure that the end result is as good as it can be, at whatever budget. If, as an architect, you’ve designed and built hundreds of extensions for Victorian houses, then you’ll have tried many things. You can see how to solve the problems and how to deliver something truly exceptional. What does the word ‘ home’ mean to you?
For me, home is all about family. It’s where you give your kids the tools to grow. You can’t overestimate the effect that a well-designed home can have on them. It’s a lot easier to do homework in a quiet, well-ventilated space with good amounts of natural daylight. What are you working on at the moment?
There’s some fun stuff planned for Brixton, such as the Creative Workspaces community art project ( 4), which includes a renovation of the Oval House Theatre ( 3). We’re also working on a Tooting housing project that will bring 18 new homes to the area ( 1).
Is there a building in the world you wish you
had designed? I visited Oscar Niemeyer’s Cathedral in Brasília ( 2) as a young man and it blew me away. He was given such freedom to do what he wanted and boy did he step up. It demonstrates that there is something beyond just practical, beautifully lit public spaces.
You’re in the practice of knocking down old buildings and starting again. Is it really
necessary? Sometimes it is. Most of the time it’s down to the tax laws, as there is no VAT on new-build houses. You get to a point where you’re going to spend so much money doing an older place up, plus 20 per cent VAT, that for the same money you could build exactly what you want quickly and sustainably (Park House, 5). We get nostalgic about our Victorian housing stock but objectively, it was built to last 100 years, uses way too much energy and, without extensive work, doesn’t give us what we need now: warmth, low running costs, good light and that sense of space that lets you grow (z-m-a.co.uk).
‘ You can’t overestimate the effect that a well-designed home can have on a family’