Naked House

Affordable housing
Capacity study
Hydethorpe Road, Lambeth, London

The practice has carried out a capacity study for Naked House Community Builders CIC to support their discussions with the council to create fourteen affordable residential units. Naked House is a new innovative housebuilder aiming to provide affordable living space by stripping their schemes back to essential components.

Located on a leafy, somewhat neglected plot in Lambeth next to a site with two houses, currently being privately redeveloped for denser mid-rise housing, we designed a straightforward framework of shared cores and internal private stairs, shaping a simple volume, sensitive in its response to the particular urban grain, overlooking issues, scale and atmospheric qualities of a site surrounded by tall mature trees.

The building can accommodate a variety of minimum space standard compliant unit sizes, from one bed flats to maisonette or single storey family units, all based on the same layout and fit-out principle. The core layout allows us to create unconventional large open plan three bed units without requirement for protected halls because there is access to a second escape route.

The fit out, decided upon by prospective residents, is separated from the structure, allowing for future rearrangements within the logic of the proposed access system. The internal private stairs of maisonette units are located within double height spaces offering generous views into the neighbouring mature trees.