At those times when you’re locked in from all four sides, the only way to go is…deep deep down within…

This house was brought to us already fitted with an air well that was a little off centre. Like with all good plans, most rooms and living spaces were built around this at various levels. So we didn’t mess around with that phenomenon much.

Our mission was to ensure that the living sections were not left in the dark. Apart from which, the house itself was jammed between other townhouses, with one wall butting against a party wall. Plus there was a dining room that sat at a semi basement level that needed expansion. It was this dining space that gave us the inspiration to not go ‘left’, or ‘right’, nor ‘up’… but instead we went ‘down’!

The excavation sank half a level into mother earth giving the air well a magnificent total height of three and a half storeys. We then covered the grand air well with a skylight at the top, transforming the air well into a source of light AND air. We also completely demolished a dividing wall that exposed a beautiful staircase with amazing flip flop balustrades, to which the new light well offered utter glory. Needless to say, this ethereal staircase became the focus of the entire structure while the full house was now bathed in a rich glow of light.

One level above the base of the light well, we placed the master bedroom with a very cool external bathing area within a steel framed glass cladded box. Though this heavenly bathroom did gain from the main light well, we also added a glass ceiling to it which opened up to…. you guessed it! Heaven! Private yet still so personal…

We also gave special attention to the materials used in this construction to stimulate the tactile sensibilities of its dwellers. The light well was clad in earthy clay coloured slate strips arranged in creatively random fashion. The well itself was brilliantly white from the inside and this fell in perfect contrast to the dark tiles. Other material usage included a textural delight of sandblasted glass, painted steel, and oak veneer panels to create a true masterpiece for the senses.