Hasta La Ideas

London studio Open Practice Architecture and interior design studio Kinder Design have completed Coach House, a family house tucked into a neglected infill site in East Dulwich.

Reclaimed brick was used to create a compact, three-bedroom home and its ash-lined guest annexe on the mews site, previously home to a ministry of transport (MOT) garage and associated outbuildings.

Open Practice Architecture and Kinder Design acquired the site in 2017 and acted as both developers and designers on the project. They completed the home around a central courtyard in 2022 and the annexe on the small adjacent plot in 2023.

“It’s exciting to be amongst a growing number of architects who are pivoting into development as a way of navigating a difficult market,” Open Practice Architecture direct Rupert Scott told Dezeen.

“Whilst we hoped to create something architecturally unique, we didn’t want the building to shout its arrival,” Scott added.

“The focus was on creating a calm, light-filled and practical family home, that was also well insulated and energy efficient.”

Coach House’s L-shaped plan follows the footprint of the original building on the site, with the ground floor living, dining and kitchen areas opening onto a courtyard via full-height sliding glass doors.

A white-steel staircase leads up to the first floor, where the three bedrooms overlook both the courtyard and a lightwell that helps to pull natural light into the darker side of the plot.

“The building faces north, so one of our key challenges was ensuring ample natural light throughout the space,” Scott explained.

“Creating a ‘light pocket’ at the rear allowed us to connect two of the bedrooms to the south-facing light, rather than having all the rooms squeezed together facing the courtyard,” he added

Reclaimed London brick was used to blend Coach House in with the surrounding mews buildings, while the interiors have been finished with painted and plywood walls and a concrete floor with exposed aggregate.

The studios were keen to allude to the more utilitarian history of the buildings on the site, with the entrance to the home marked by a large sliding wooden door suspended from an exposed steel beam.

For the guest annexe, contrasting natural ash cladding is used both inside and out, including on a hinged shutter on the first floor.

“Using a singular material can sometimes be too reductive, but here, it provides a lovely counterbalance and bookend to the main house,” said Scott.

Other infill projects recently completed in London include a textured brick house by Platform 5 Architects and a cluster of homes with sawtooth roofs by Dallas Pierce Quintero, both of which occupy former builder’s yards.

The photography is by Ellen Christina Hancock and Lewis Gregory.

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