Architects: MW Architects
Project: Terrace House Renovation
Location: South Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
Photography: French + Tye
This Victorian terrace in South Hampstead already had a split section. The owners thought the steps down to the original kitchen were a negative aspect of the property but MW Architects immediately saw the potential to connect the three key living spaces and open it up into a dramatic but functional family space.
Our RIBA award winning new build houses at Essex Mews have 3 different levels around a 2 storey void for each of the main living spaces in the house: Eat, Live & Work. This defines the individual spaces but connects them 3 dimensionally making them feel bigger and brighter through shared volume.
We were able to apply the same idea here in this Terrace House Renovation project. The side return was filled at the lower level to create a spacious kitchen and dining area that opened onto the garden through a beautiful steel framed screen.
Two voids were formed into the room above connecting them but retaining their separate functions. The void in the centre of the house allowed the stair down to the kitchen to be made generously wide and moved into to it. This stair connected the living rooms to both the kitchen below and spatially to the study above.
These simple moves transformed three dark and pokey rooms into a dramatic, bright, and dynamic centre to a family home.
The beautiful plywood kitchen by Uncommon Projects climb up through the void and becomes storage for the study. The rest of the house was fully refurbished too including a new basement under the living space (just half a flight of stairs down from the kitchen), and a new master suite on the first floor.
