Hampstead Heath, London
The new build four-storey house is situated on a stylistically-eclectic street in a Conservation Area. Its façade makes reference to the scale and proportions of the surrounding terrace houses and is composed of a number of layers to achieve a complexity of composition and depth of shadow to respond to the Victorian bay windows and porches. This layering is provided by screens of varying translucency at the front and rear that help provide privacy, sun screening and balustrading for the main rooms and terraces.
The screen is designed with an inner mesh to support climbing plants and an outer tensile fabric tight enough to prevent plants from protruding, maintaining a clean appearance on the street. The plantings form silhouettes against this canvas, which will vary across the seasons. Throughout the course of the day, interplay in opacity and shadow occurs to establish a dialogue between the internal spaces and the street. The layers are relatively transparent when viewed at 90 degrees, becoming increasingly opaque on the oblique angle, achieving greatest privacy when viewed from up or down the road. In the evenings, the rooms glow and fade to white on the brightest days.
Project Designer: Marco Curtaz (while working at GTP)
Collaborations: LAD, Fluid, Cantifix