House In A Garden / Gianni Botsford Architects

Architects: Gianni Botsford Architects
Area: 2722 ft²
Year: 2018
Photographs: Edmund Sumner
Manufacturers: Dinesen, Sky-Frame, TECU®, Abbey Pynford, Cantifix, Liquid Design, London Swimming Pools, Roles Broderick Roofing, Sitem srl, SteelOne srl, Tischlerei Lobis, Züblin
Arboriculturist: Treeprojects
Structural Engineer: Built
Lighting Designer: Isometrix
Services Engineer: Pearce and Associates
Landscape Architect: Todd Longsaffe-Gowan
Products used in this Project: Frameless Sliding Doors – Sky-Frame Original by Sky-Frame, Copper Surface – Classic by TECU®
Design Team: Gianni Botsford, Paulo Martinho, Kate Dar-by, James Eagle, Hiroshi Takeyama, Anahi Copponex
Quantity Surveyor: Leslie Clark
AV: Andrew Lucas Ltd
Approved Inspector: Salus
CDM: Goddard Consulting
Planning Authority: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
City: London
Country: United Kingdom

House in a Garden by Gianni Botsford Architects is a copper-roofed pavilion in a hidden urban garden in Notting Hill, accessed through a narrow passage beside an 1840s villa. The project replaced a 1960s bungalow with a largely subterranean house. The standout feature is a pavilion-like copper-clad roof supported by a complex glulam timber structure, giving the house a light, airy feel and connecting it to the garden. The interior features copper, Douglas Fir, and Carrara marble, enhancing the underground spaces. The house includes two subterranean levels with bedrooms, a living/gallery area, and a 10-meter swimming pool. Digital tools were used to optimize natural light, crucial for the north-facing site. The timber roof structure, prefabricated in the Dolomites, was craned into place in eight sections. The design emphasizes the interplay of light and shadow, creating a unique, inviting space.

House in a garden / gianni botsford architects

House in a Garden, designed by Gianni Botsford Architects, is a copper-roofed pavilion nestled in a hidden urban garden in Notting Hill. The project involved demolishing a 1960s bungalow and replacing it with a predominantly subterranean house, accessed through a narrow passage alongside an 1840s villa.

The most visible external feature is the copper-clad, pavilion-like roof. Inside, this roof is supported by a complex glulam timber structure made of spruce, ending in a glazed oculus. The roof appears to float above a glass-walled living room, enhancing a sense of lightness and connecting the interior to the surrounding landscaped garden and urban context.

Copper is a recurring element throughout the house, seen in the ground floor kitchen surfaces and detailing in the rooms below, adding a subtle warmth to the interior. The interplay between cool Douglas Fir and warm Carrara marble enhances the sensual quality of the underground spaces, complemented by a carefully studied play of light and shadow. The house features two levels below the ground floor, with bedrooms on the first level and a spacious living/gallery area with a 10-meter swimming pool on the lower level. Lightwells and skylights optimize daylight, casting top light onto the lower ground floor walls.

Bringing daylight to a depth of up to eight meters was challenging, especially given the tight, north-facing site. Digital analysis tools were employed to explore the three-dimensional possibilities of light in shaping the building’s form and organization. House in a Garden builds on Gianni Botsford Architects’ expertise in manipulating natural light throughout the day and seasons, enriching and defining the architecture. Gianni Botsford explains:

To build with light and darkness is to work with what a context gives you – a unique set of constraints and opportunities. Shaped and informed by the light and shadow that surround it, the roof’s tent-like form creates a new place for life to occur in the house – one that turns its back on the large volumes surrounding it and embraces the site.

Each unique piece of the timber roof structure, curving in three directions, was prefabricated in the Dolomites from three-dimensional models provided by Gianni Botsford Architects. The pieces were then transported to the site and craned into position in eight sections. Gianni Botsford summarizes the roof concept:

Designed, modeled, and fabricated using both digital and manual processes, each feeding the other, the complexity of the timber roof structure belies its warm domestic scale and character.