Mews House
Client: Private
Location: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Sector: Residential
The Client
Our client had the incredible opportunity to purchase two neighbouring mews houses in Knightsbridge. The clients had recently purchased the two properties with the ambition to create a comfortable and spacious family dwelling in the heart of Knightsbridge.
The Site
These houses were once the stables serving the large Georgian houses to the rear of the Mews built in the 1840’s. The site is located within the Thurloe Estate and forms part of the Smith’s Charity Conservation Area.
The Brief
These stables were never intended for modern living and as a result these properties are very small and have no rear access on the ground floor. Furthermore, years of internal alterations created convoluted layouts with ineffective staircases and impractical mezzanines.
Approach
The inspiration and main challenge for this project involved transforming what were once small stables into large, bright spaces. The clients are originally from the Middle East and wanted to make sure the proposed spaces felt generous and filled with natural light.
From the initial site visit it was clear how small each mews house actually was, the client even exclaiming his bedroom alone was large. It was clear we needed to maximise the space availiable and proposed the sacrifice of a bedroom in order to create a wonderful double height living space.
Design
The proposal amalgamates the two properties and creates a central staircase to maximise the small footprint. A single level of basement is proposed which will form two generous double bedrooms and a bathroom.
With the understanding that space and natural light are to be maximised the ‘the upside-down house’ concept has been explored by placing the communal spaces on the upper levels.
A wonderful double height space forms the living area with a feature staircase leading up to the master bedroom and bathroom. A minimal kitchen with island seating was part of the client brief which allowed the limited space to be better used for the communal spaces. The rear fenestrations decrease in aperture as you ascend to create greater privacy to the rear elevations which face the larger adjoining houses to the rear. The ground floor sacrifices valuable area and creates a courtyard space which extends to the new basement level forming an intimate amenity space which brings natural light to the lower-level bedrooms.
In order to align with the Thurloe Estate and Smith’s Charity Conservation Area appraisals it was essential that the scheme retains the front façade.
