Hatori House is a remodelling of an existing intermediate terrace house located on a street fringing a relatively busy road. The row of terraces site on a naturally sloped site, with a road and pedestrian walkway located to the rear at 1.5 storeys higher than the front road level This presents some challenges to bring in natural light and air into the interior spaces. The brief called for a light, calm, private sanctuary for a young couple who had a preference for a minimal approach to design.
The key interventions were to move the existing dog-leg stairs from the middle of the space to the right party wall, and introducing a skylight above this.
As the frontage is rather exposed, the brief was to provide as much visual and audio privacy as possible. Thus a screen of precast concrete panels were designed to form the facade as well as side buffers for the scheme.
The journey through the main entrance allows one to catch a glimpse of the light filtering down the perforated steel stairs before one goes up to the main living spaces on the first floor. The ground floor is left bare, to be used mainly as utility and storage.
In terms of finishes and outlook, the client wished to keep a minimal pallette of finishes. This is achieved by paring down the finishes to bare polished concrete, renders and ply joinery throughout.
