The Corner House

: Constant SD (Structural Engineer), Mendick Waring Limited (M&E)

Corner house is a 300m2 family home within the Hampstead Conservation area in London.

The clients brief was challenging; asking for flexible spaces that met the client’s requirements with spaces for home working, an acupuncture treatment room, sauna, cinema room, exercise space as well as an open plan ground floor to host large social gatherings. The heart of the house is the open plan ground floor with a series of full height windows/doors flooding the floor with an abundance of daylight. Openings create framed views of the sunken patio garden. A glass balcony and roof terrace maximise the usable external space. Each level is organised around a curved lightweight steel and timber staircase allowing light into the plan from the glazed opening above. The lower ground floor can be sectioned off entirely with its own entrance, kitchen and bathroom so that family can stay for extended periods. A cleverly concealed lift is installed across three floors, ensuring the owners can enjoy the house in their later years. The three-storey red-brick façade has been thermally upgraded, restored and is the only retained element from the original building. The contemporary grey brick extension is intentionally distinct from the existing house, its simple form is strongly driven by the original gable roof pitch and the splayed geometry of the corner site. Hit-and-miss brick detailing provides privacy and obscures windows to private spaces and creates a beautiful dappled light effect within these intimate spaces.