Architects: Neil Dusheiko Architects

Area: 170 m²

Year: 2023

Photographs:Jim Stephenson

Manufacturers: Dinesen, Allgood, Antonio Lupi, Art with Glass, Astro Lighting, Biotecture, Buster + Punch, Colour Flooring Company, Domus Group, Everything Now Design, Evolution Glass, FLOS, Hugo Carter, K&D Joinery, Kast Concrete Basins, Keaney’s, Maxlight, Omnie, Phos, Push + Pull, +11

Lead Team: Neil Dusheiko Architects

Design Team: Neil Dusheiko Architects

General Constructing: Bright Tiger

Engineering & Consulting > Structural: Detail SD

Landscape Architecture: Sheila Jack

Engineering & Consulting > Other: Soda Graffiti, Everything Now Design

Country: United Kingdom

Text description provided by the architects. Neil Dusheiko Architects’ House of the Elements is a radical remodelling of a Victorian terraced home in London, creating a beautiful spa-like retreat in another otherwise ordinary urban setting. Bold spatial gestures, a focus on connections to nature, and also a sense of fun make this an exciting and highly unusual home. House of the Elements explores the concept of space as a living entity, where time is measured not only by human presence and daily rituals but also by the growth and nurturing of plants, and the passage of light throughout the day. The original house was built in the late 19th century, and from the street appears to be a typical late-Victorian terraced house. The front reception room – featuring its original fireplace and plaster mouldings – has been retained. Beyond this, however, original features dissolve and give way to an extraordinary transformation.

Throughout the house, Neil Dusheiko Architects’ emphasis on connections to nature led to an approach that goes beyond simply blurring the boundaries between inside and outside. Alongside strong visual connections to the lush rear garden through full-height glazing to the kitchen or picture windows on the floors above, the design goes further with a double-height green wall that lines the enclosed side return. The green wall is placed under a large glazed skylight that offers the planted space the full spectrum of sunlight, with sun-loving species placed closer to the light and plants requiring more shade towards the bottom. A rainwater harvesting system – fed from wastewater from the skylight and supplemented with nutrients – supports this lush sensory feature that fills the space with natural colour and textures. The green wall emphasises connections with the garden beyond and provides pleasing contrasts with the crisp geometries and surfaces that characterise the home’s interiors.

The green wall is also part of a wider design strategy that stimulates the senses through connections with natural materials. Natural timber has been used extensively throughout the home – most notably in the retained exposed structural timber frame, the deep walnut bath overlooking the green wall, and the charred timber cladding to the distinctive rear garden elevation. Exposed brickwork provides a tactile memory of the original house, and contrasts with lime-washed white brick walls and the cooler, dark colours used in the bedrooms to create a calm and peaceful private space. In the bathroom, the polished plaster walls use natural biopolymers extracted from castor beans – a natural, healthy and sustainable ingredient.