A new London house delights in robust brutalist detailing and diffused light

A new London house from Henley Halebrown Architects takes a sensitive approach to its historic site, weaving modern living spaces into a cluster of buildings that include an early twentieth-century public hall and the 12th-century St Mary’s Church, Barnes. Occupying a spot in a 16th-century walled garden, the T-shaped building is broken down into two parts.

Step inside this sensitively designed London house

To the south lies an oak framed single-storey structure, with a glazed wall framed with Douglas fir and a copper roof. It abuts a two-storey masonry component with a green roof. The contrast between materials and processes eases the transition between the house and the tall flank wall of the adjoining public hall on one side, and brick-built private houses on the other, whilst the monk bond dark brown brickwork was chosen to match that of the ancient church.

It’s a typically bravura material display from the award-winning practice which has made its name with a series of modest and refined buildings, both public, residential and commercial, around the UK. Often exploring new typologies, like the pioneering Copper Lane co-housing scheme in North London, nominated for an RIBA Regional Award in 2014, as well as the Chadwick Hall student accommodation, shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2018.

This typological variety goes hand in hand with a very visible respect for material, tradition and craft. There is no typical Henley Halebrown project, but a definite sensibility runs through their work, something that could loosely be termed neo-Brutalism, not only through the refined juxtaposition of brick, timber, terracotta and, on occasion, concrete, but also the social idealism that underpinned the best ‘brutal’ architecture. Simon Henley was ahead of the curve when it came to the genre’s reappraisal; his 2017 monograph Redefining Brutalism predates many, many other books on the subject.

The House in a Walled Garden certainly gives off an elegantly austere vibe. That exterior brickwork, with its insets, tall chimneys and integral brick screens, brings to mind the soaring forms of a power station, or even the precisely ordered geometry of Louis Kahn. Detail is everything. Bronze window frames add a lustrous sheen to the glazing, pairing beautifully with the timber structure, whilst the dark bricks are flush-pointed with lime mortar.

On the ground floor the house is arranged around a quartet of living spaces, the hall, kitchen, dining room and library. You step down slightly to reach the living room and breakfast room, along with a craft workshop, all overlooking the garden. On the first floor are three bedrooms, whilst a lower ground floor level houses another workshop, games room and the guest suite. Finally, there’s a snug, nestled beneath the lowest point of the long sloping roof.

At the intersection between timber and brick, where the roof joists fold into one another is a long skylight, diffusing light into the interior above the breakfast room. Brick screened clerestory windows also bring light into the double-hight hallway. Exposed roof timbers and deep timber-clad window reveals, along with bench-cum-bookshelves lining the walls give the snug a warm, enclosed feel.

The house is set within a newly landscaped garden, with geometry and alignments continuing out from the interior and setting up a relationship with the strong brick forms of the adjoining buildings.

Gavin Hale-Brown and Simon Henley set up their studio 1995. Amongst many accolades, the practice has been named the UK’s Healthcare Architect of the Year in 2008, Public Building Architect of the Year in 2011 and Housing Architect of the Year in 2021. Their project for a new primary school and housing at 333 Kingsland Road in London received a Stirling Prize nomination in 2022.

HenleyHalebrown.com, @HenleyHalebrown