More Place
More Place reimagines an early Victorian terrace in North London as a hybrid dwelling for living, working, and gathering. It provides a framework to support contemporary lifestyles, where remote working, entrepreneurial activity, and social life often overlap within the same spaces. The proposal explores how domestic architecture can adapt to changing rhythms of life while sparking a sense of optimism and a departure from the ordinary through material choices, detailing, and proportion.
Self-aware, the design balances continuity with reinterpretation. It hints at the elaboration of early Victorian terrace fronts, where traces of classicism still linger in their pared-back yet bold detailing. The new extension picks up on this lineage, turning elements that would often be concealed or minimised into deliberate design assets. Gutters of exaggerated proportions and jewellery-like rain chains reinforce this approach. The result is a composition that allows the utilitarian to transcend into something more whimsical and imaginative.
More Place reimagines an early Victorian terrace in North London as a hybrid dwelling for living, working, and gathering. It provides a framework to support contemporary lifestyles, where remote working, entrepreneurial activity, and social life often overlap within the same spaces. The proposal explores how domestic architecture can adapt to changing rhythms of life while sparking a sense of optimism and a departure from the ordinary through material choices, detailing, and proportion.
More Place reimagines an early Victorian terrace in North London as a hybrid dwelling for living, working, and gathering. It provides a framework to support contemporary lifestyles, where remote working, entrepreneurial activity, and social life often overlap within the same spaces. The proposal explores how domestic architecture can adapt to changing rhythms of life while sparking a sense of optimism and a departure from the ordinary through material choices, detailing, and proportion.
Self-aware, the design balances continuity with reinterpretation. It hints at the elaboration of early Victorian terrace fronts, where traces of classicism still linger in their pared-back yet bold detailing. The new extension picks up on this lineage, turning elements that would often be concealed or minimised into deliberate design assets. Gutters of exaggerated proportions and jewellery-like rain chains reinforce this approach. The result is a composition that allows the utilitarian to transcend into something more whimsical and imaginative.
Internally, the house is arranged for dual use. At the front, a former reception room is reimagined with a heavy felt curtain partition, allowing it to shift between domestic intimacy and a wider space for occasional meetings or presentations. To the rear, an open-plan extension provides flexibility for family life, gatherings, and private workshops in direct connection to the garden. Moving upstairs, a gradient of privacy shapes the atmosphere of the rooms, from a study designed for focus to the bedrooms and bathrooms above.
Self-aware, the design balances continuity with reinterpretation. It hints at the elaboration of early Victorian terrace fronts, where traces of classicism still linger in their pared-back yet bold detailing. The new extension picks up on this lineage, turning elements that would often be concealed or minimised into deliberate design assets. Gutters of exaggerated proportions and jewellery-like rain chains reinforce this approach. The result is a composition that allows the utilitarian to transcend into something more whimsical and imaginative.
Internally, the house is arranged for dual use. At the front, a former reception room is reimagined with a heavy felt curtain partition, allowing it to shift between domestic intimacy and a wider space for occasional meetings or presentations. To the rear, an open-plan extension provides flexibility for family life, gatherings, and private workshops in direct connection to the garden. Moving upstairs, a gradient of privacy shapes the atmosphere of the rooms, from a study designed for focus to the bedrooms and bathrooms above.
Internally, the house is arranged for dual use. At the front, a former reception room is reimagined with a heavy felt curtain partition, allowing it to shift between domestic intimacy and a wider space for occasional meetings or presentations. To the rear, an open-plan extension provides flexibility for family life, gatherings, and private workshops in direct connection to the garden. Moving upstairs, a gradient of privacy shapes the atmosphere of the rooms, from a study designed for focus to the bedrooms and bathrooms above.
Material decisions are simple yet deliberate. Douglas fir boards shift to polished concrete underfoot, bush-hammered limestone grounds the chimney surround, and custom stainless steel joinery meets the warmth of maple cabinetry. Felt partitions soften transitions and improve acoustics, their weight set against the sharper precision of metal and stone. The palette works through shifting textures, encouraging touch as much as sight.
Like magical realism in literature, small departures from the ordinary, as hints of alternative narratives, give the house its character: a gutter detail, a chimney breast, a shift in proportion. The spaces remain functional and simple, yet invite observation and imagination. A place for more engagement, more creativity, more curiosity.
Material decisions are simple yet deliberate. Douglas fir boards shift to polished concrete underfoot, bush-hammered limestone grounds the chimney surround, and custom stainless steel joinery meets the warmth of maple cabinetry. Felt partitions soften transitions and improve acoustics, their weight set against the sharper precision of metal and stone. The palette works through shifting textures, encouraging touch as much as sight.
Like magical realism in literature, small departures from the ordinary, as hints of alternative narratives, give the house its character: a gutter detail, a chimney breast, a shift in proportion. The spaces remain functional and simple, yet invite observation and imagination. A place for more engagement, more creativity, more curiosity.