Fittingly, Alessia Mosci calls the remodel of her London flat a “creative adaptation.” After all, the architect’s approach was an exercise in resourceful constraint: how to adhere to “simplicity of form and craft” while applying an upcycling ethos. “There is a tendency to just take everything out and start fresh,” says Alessia. “But we tried to work with the building whilst making the changes that we wanted.”

From the very start of her property search, Alessia wanted a project. “No one wants to buy derelict buildings,” she says. “Usually, [buyers] want them almost entirely finished nowadays. Our agent was like, ‘Are you crazy?’” Still, they found one: the 1903 Edwardian terrace building had been converted to apartments in the ’70s, and was burdened with exhausted finishes and a segmented layout. Even with two floors, it felt cramped and dark.

But further exploration revealed an untapped loft/storage space enclosed upstairs, which Alessia converted into a dedicated en suite. The stairwell was opened up to expose its double-height volume, and skylights were added when the roof was rebuilt. Now, plenty of natural light filters into the home. Alessia replaced what was previously the upstairs bedroom with an open office overlooking the stairs, a space that acts as a connector between the two floors; for privacy, a curtain can close it off.

“It’s good to experiment, and to follow your instincts.”
—Alessia Mosci, architect and resident

When Alessia started the demo process, she asked the question, “What can we keep?” To that end, all of the original floorboards were removed, restored, and reinstalled. If there were sections too far gone, the architect feathered in similar reclaimed pieces. The original Edwardian staircase remains, and salvaged interior pine doors were “dipped, dried, and treated with intumescent paint to achieve the required fire rating before being finished,” says the firm.

Where new materials were incorporated, Alessia sourced as responsibly as possible. The architect chose plywood for many of the interior features, either saving scraps from construction sites, or buying FSC-certified sheets. “We decided to use plywood because it’s a material that doesn’t have a lot of waste in its production and it’s quite raw in form,” says Alessia. “You don’t have to do a lot to it.” The marble counters in the kitchen were left over from a bigger client project, and Alessia designed the room’s layout around the amount available.

Shop the Look

With the bigger phases of the remodel finished early last year, Alessia spent summer weekends at Blackhorse Workshop, a local maker space, to learn how to build out the rest of the joinery, including the record cabinets that flank the fireplace in the living room, and the plywood box with a metal mesh bottom that floats atop the en suite tub, and through which the bath water flows. “It’s good to experiment,” says Alessia, reflecting on her finished home. “And to follow your instincts.”

Related Reading:

An Architect Couple Play With Texture in Their Handcrafted London Home

A Claustrophobic London Mews House Gets a Smart Redesign

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: MWAI / @mwaiarchitects

Builder and Kitchen Design: Virtue Joinery