The Weavers House by Chan and Eayrs
Husband and wife duo Zoe Chan Eayrs and Merlin Eayrs craft bespoke homes from the ground up. Trained architects, the two (with their baby girl) inhabit their projects during construction, taking an involved and holistic approach to the design process.
“We get personally involved in every aspect of our projects,” they say. By physically moving into the homes, living in the empty sites and spaces, connecting with them, the designers are able “to understand the context, light, volumes and temperature” – a practice which allows them to ‘feel’ the spaces they design.
Their firm, Chan + Eayrs, not even five years old, has already completed four projects – quite an accomplishment for a young practice with such a dedicated approach.
The Weavers House was one such project, created from the inspiration that the couple drew whilst living on site. Set in the historic heart of Spitalfields in East London, Chan and Eayrs’s design reinterprets the home’s Huguenots heritage – that of the French Protestants who escaped prosecution by fleeing to London.
Respecting traditional materials and techniques, the home, which sits on a kind of ‘time capsule’ street of London, has been refashioned to include clean lines and open spaces with a sensitive and contemporary approach.
Beginning the design process with an existing structure, the pair were challenged to consider the interiors first and foremost from it’s architectural merit, shaping the internal volume of the corner plot once occupied by a local pub.
Beautifully detailed, highly considered and injected with character, the design brings out the warmth in the repurposed building, paying homage to its origins whilst displaying a contemporary sensibility.
