The Clients’ Vision

The house was conceived and built during the close of the decade as a response to the overriding excesses of the period.  We wanted to build a house that was beautiful without any of the flamboyance that seemed de rigueur. Domestic architecture seemed to have succumbed to over scaled spaces that imitated luxury hotels with plunge pools, gyms, cinemas, industrially scaled kitchens, ensuite bathrooms, ensuite dressing rooms. This vision was completed with wall to wall sound/video and light systems all programmed by remote control. The other extreme alternative to this particular consumer nightmare was the minimalist vision where a faux spiritual simplicity was conjured up by hiding consumer goodies behind touch sensitive panels with no switches or handles on view.

The luxury that we were seeking was that of a finely articulated space that might allow the eye to roam beyond the limitations of each room. Natural light would inform and expand these volumes. It was important that space was not wasted in corridors and staircases and that each room was no larger than it needed to be. Our aesthetic was shaped by the Modernists:  it was functional, modest, economical, and romantic.

In David Wild we found the idealist we were looking for.  In Sacks Maguire the team to carry the ideas through. We had originally hoped to build a community of homes with half a dozen friends who seemed interested in our ideas.  But co-ordinating the desires of six different households proved quickly insurmountable.  So a tiny site of 14x14 metres was finally decided on, and a single dwelling planned for it.
The site was restrictive, but already had planning permission for an invisible-from-the-street house. David Wild took the footprint and came up with three different designs over a six month period.  Each design was drawn up in response to discussions we had together. When the third plan was presented to us we all knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that something remarkable had been conjured up. The plans sat well with both our hearts and our heads.

Christopher Phillips and Manou Shama-Levy