Architects: Smith Brooke Architects
Contractor: GM Developments
Photographer: Alexander James

Charles Jencks approached us with a vision to turn his family home into a house-museum dedicated to his life’s work, archives and philosophy and Smith Brooke happily stepped up to the challenge. In recognition of his work the house has recently been Grade 1 Listed, a building created by him in collaboration with many highly regarded architects, such as Terry Farrell, Nick Grimshaw, Michael Graves and Piers Gough, who all worked to transform the house into a built manifesto for Post-Modern Architecture.

To create such a unique space, the existing garage and lower ground floor was transformed into a new exhibition space, passing through an external amphitheatre behind some Jencksian gates. Throughout the rest of the building, extensive renovation and maintenance works took place to give the building a new lease of life.

To bring this ambitious project to fruition and to ensure both the original theory of the house and the symbology was upheld throughout, Smith Brooke spent many months with Charles meticulously ironing out the details, as well as ensuring the build adhered to statutory regulations.

This was a unique project and opportunity for Smith Brooke Architects and we relished every moment. The house-museum is open to the public from September 2021 and more information can be found here: www.thecosmichouse.com