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Location: Kensington, London. Great Britain Year of construction: 1996 Architect: Seth Stein Photography: Richard Davies
An old stable and a site that was largely undeveloped were incorporated into Seth Stein’s design for his own house. Stein did not want toJ create a contrast with the existing building or the typology and traditional appearance of the surrounding structures. He prefers to establish a dialogue and maintain continuity with the past, integrating it into his designs. The first stage involved the painstaking restoration of all the existing buildings that would be incorporated into the new structure.
The living area of the house follows the natural contours of the site. The first-floor accommodation comprises a long interior patio and a transitional area from the street, where the car can be left. Next to one of the walls of this outdoor vestibule, several dark, wooden planks form a walkway leading to the house and the entrance proper.
The interior patio is the central element of the design. It enables natural light to be introduced into all the main living spaces of the house, constitutes a visual focus, and provides privacy from the surrounding houses. Seth Stein designed it, not as a yard, but as an exterior room, a protected area where children can play in the open air, an eating area, or, quite simply, a contemplative space. The living room – an irregular space of some 97 sq ft (9 m2) – is half covered by a structure of glass windows and a light structure of tensioned steel, set within the U-shape formed by the brick facades of the second floor. In one of the corners, the flight of steps leading to the level of the bedrooms follows the line of an existing curved wall.
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The greater part of the flooring in the house is pale gray concrete, hand finished to give it an orange-peel texture. Most of the walls have been painted in a dull, mat white verging on ivory.
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The floor of the kitchen is in American oak, while the patio and steps are paved with green Spanish limestone, which is interspersed wich areas of grass.
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Right-bund page: On the floor of the dining room, sisal matting (natural fiber) defines the space around the table. The wall behind the table combines wooden paneling and the original tiles bearing the names of the horses that once occupied the building.
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The gray Tuscan stone of the bathroom floors and some of the fittings creates an atmosphere of serenity and calm.
The bedroom floors are covered with wool and sisal rugs and carpets in natural tones.
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