‘Three Rooms’ transforms 2 Whatcott’s Yard , a contemporary terraced house for a couple, into a four-person home/office. Open plan was no longer suitable for the new-found jubilant chaos of both raising children and working from home; therefore the beloved space was redesigned to adapt for teenagers. Through retaining the fundamental concept of verticality and the sensation of looking up at the sky, new ‘canopies’ were interpreted and designed from below. An inventive, unusual construction language evolved from birch ply, stressed-skin technology and traditional timber construction, coinciding to create three new rooms under a new roof.

By allowing light to flood through, its helical circulation acts as a joyfully economical transition between all floors and maximises the dimensions of the main social space, ensuring gatherings around cooking and the family dining table. Theatrically linked, this space can be spectated with playful openings in the girls’ new bedrooms, looking down onto the everyday ballet and out towards the vegetation that has grown symbiotically around the backland yard over 15 years.

The projects won a number of awards, including the NLA DMI Environmental Leadership Prize, AJ Architecture Award, Hackney Design Award 2020, Timber Trade Award, Blue Print & AJ Retrofit Shortlist.

The original house is part of the award winning selfbuild terrace 'Inbetween' completed in 2004 by its owner occupiers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TuiK3DlK44