Tree House

A perforated, leaf-patterned metal facade articulates a compact London house designed by Horden Cherry Lee Architects

Photos
Dennis Gilbert

One Ingleton Street is a 65-square-metre, two-bedroom house in south London designed by Horden Cherry Lee Architects. Located on the site of a former garage in the yard of a house on Brixton Road, it is opposite a popular pub and adjacent to an entrance to Slade Gardens, a public park. The compact plan places bedrooms and a bathroom on the ground floor, with an open-plan kitchen and living space above.

Central to the design is the south-facing, perforated aluminium entrance facade. An open leaf pattern, machined into the vertical metal screens ensures a degree of privacy while simultaneously allowing daylight in and providing views out. The motif also serves as a visual link to the nearby ash trees in Slade Gardens. A light tone was chosen for the screens to complement the London stock brick that is used elsewhere on the facade, and in neighbouring buildings.

Sunlight penetrating the screen gives the interior a dappled quality. Further depth is provided by the reflection of sunlight back onto the inner face of the metal screen from the double-glazed window units. A glass roof incorporating photovoltaic cells and a sliding cover directs views upwards towards the tree canopy.

“Light is the first dimension of architecture; each piece of land we build on has its own particular qualities of light”, says practice principal Richard Horden. “In Brixton we used the play of light through the trees and leaves to optimise the feeling of being totally surrounded by nature when inside the house”.