Our first new-build project was commissioned in 2010 for a north London plot within a conservation area. The sensitivity of the site and the local authority’s restrictive attitude ignited an extraordinary confrontation between two very different sensibilities. Careful negotiation ensued and, as a result, a very contemporary building was created, while respecting the local aesthetic.

We intentionally reverted to a cliché of the suburban form. Brick, but black, a pitched roof, but chopped back, a bay window, but flush and square. It is an essay on a new post-modernism, but mannered, respectful and discreet. The two stories of sleeping quarters are held over the ground floor via a regiment of steelworks, within a dark and moody brick shed-like form. The ground floor, set into the landscape, is transparent and exists only as a consequence of the brick structure over it and a vast basement hidden below. The project was highly commended by Architectural Review 2017.