Here the main feature is the staircase which is located at the rear of the property. It sits in a glass walled cube which has horizontal timber slats wrapped around it at varying centres. This creates a range of interesting shadows and natural light effects, whilst also helping to obscure from the view the buildings to the rear of the property, which are not attractive. At each floor a room is accessible off the stair that benefits from the full width of the site and with a glazed façade takes full advantage of the far better views to the front of the property.
The solution to the site constraints is therefore simple and effective and the problems of a tight site are dealt with in the design and location of the vertical circulation. Once this is done then secondary design features are integrated into the property such as roof lights and balconies to further enrich the experience of moving about the interior.
Challenging Sites
Often it is the most challenging sites that result in the best buildings. Clever and creative design will find a solution to address the constraints that a challenging site offers up.
Our proposal in Battersea for a new family home was for exactly such a site. Here the key issues for what is avery narrow site were how the internal circulation worked and the use of natural light. The solution offered up a striking and building with much visual interest in the interior spaces.
