North London House

Location: Highgate, London

Project Start February 2019, Completed September 2023

The 500m2 house is located on a large and unique backland plot surrounded by terraced houses or apartment blocks on all sides, but also benefits from tall mature trees around the boundaries as the main feature of the site creating a generous and enclosed garden site.

The architectural concept of the house developed from the desire to maximize the views towards the garden and creating a pocket of privacy from surrounding buildings. As a result, the architecture has been expressed through several volumes that offset each other forward or inward so the user experiences different views of the garden while the overall L shaped gesture of the building creates a place of privacy at the heart of the house.

The access into the site is through a driveway that leads into a forecourt created by the white curved façade of the house. Laid on two floors, the building features two types of bricks, red and white as a threshold between public and private.

The landscaping of the garden was developed to enhance the experience into and around the house. The focus point of the garden is a small ‘tea house’ pavilion cladded in shingle which is connected to the house via a winding path between the changing levels of the garden.