Stark House in Putney, London.

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The existing building was in a very sorry state. The front façade had become detached from the building. The roof was leaking and there was a large lift in the middle of the house. The building had not been touched for 30 years, it needed a lot of work.

 

The existing staircase sat in the middle of the building and dominated the plan. The rear bedrooms were all accessed from the half landings. What was a sizeable house felt small and pokey. We took the decision to relocate the staircase to the corner of the plot to free up the plan, to retain the front façade and rebuild the house behind. All of the floors, the roof and the rear facades were removed, scaffolding propped the adjoining terraced houses, we started again.

 

The staircase was housed in a patina cooper shaft, the doors were designed as pivoting copper walls, 200mm thick and monolithic. All the floors were constructed level and a roof terrace with views over the Thames topped the building. We were asked to create clean simple spaces with a restrained palette. We introduced American black walnut to bring warmth and tone, hand-built furniture finished flush with walls. We designed cast-iron fireplaces, stone benches, floors were washed with light.

 

Construction was completed in 2002 and the main contractor was Cooper Builders Limited.