Harvey Road

Situated on a quiet residential street in North London, this project transforms a period mid-terrace house, creating a bright and spacious living area for a young family.

The former ground floor layout was oriented towards the street and suffered from undefined rooms that were underlit and disconnected. The project addresses this issue by reorienting the layout to the garden, creating two complimentary living spaces: an active open plan garden room and a calm, enclosed drawing room. Guest toilet, cloaks and utility room are located in the central bay.

Benefiting from the afternoon light, the new garden room forms the heart of the house, housing an open plan kitchen, dining and play area for the children, with a deep upholstered bench which containes the children's toys neatly tucked away when not in use.

A generous roof light, along the length of the room, washes the lime washed brick wall with natural daylight while the folding oak framed window allows for the garden room to fully connect with the garden in the summer.

The former drawing room at the front of the house was reinstated in its original shape. Existing cupboards were removed to expose the chimney and an oak bookcase introduced as interior partition.

We were interested in exploring materials that give the project a sense of permanence and solidity. Lime washed masonry, precast concrete, and white oiled oak were used throughout. The space is tectonically defined by the new oak-clad structural elements which bear the load of the existing building. These structural elements blend with the inbuilt natural oak joinery to define a series of simple and calm interior spaces.

Architectural precast concrete composed of white limestone aggregates and white cement with a rough natural finish forms the sill, lintels and copings. These concrete sills, along with solid brick benches form informal seating areas in the garden.