New house in St.John's Wood
In 2010 we built a horizontal amalgamation of two flats for this client, giving them a large single level flat up on the second floor of a mansion block. Particularly after Covid, however, although they loved life in the tree canopy, they wanted a garden they could actually get out into. They began to look for a site somewhere nearby in St.John’s Wood and, after much searching, settled on a small and very ordinary fifties brick semi-detached house whose great attraction was a very large garden.
The plan was to extend out into the garden with as much accommodation as possible at ground level in and amongst the greenery, taking our cue from the timber construction and intimate garden courtyards of traditional Japanese architecture.
The building is under construction, having started on site in October 2025.
While the extent of the garden-building was limited by the dictates of the conservation area we nonetheless received planning permission for a significant light timber extension housing the kitchen, dining room and living room. The master bedroom is also at ground level, looking onto a small courtyard space, with only children’s and guest bedroom on the upper floors. Not only does this fulfil the client’s wish for ‘living in the garden’ but it also means that this is truly a ‘lifetime’ home as everything is level access.
We made extensive use of sketch models to explore the overall massing and also to design the detailed construction.
We developed the detailed design working alongside our chosen contractor, Lightfoot Projects, whose knowledge and experience of timber and timber construction is impressive. The building is rather like a piece of joinery writ large, with beautiful exposed Douglas fir joists, beams and columns all floating just above the garden on screw piles so as to upset tree roots as little as possible. The spaces are open plan with opportunely positioned sliding glass and timber screens. The perimeter is almost fully glazed and looks out onto the intimate garden spaces designed by Jonnie Bell.
