Invisible City, Clapham
There is a novel – Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino – that tells of imagined places, each one a memory or fragment, described by Marco Polo as though speaking of Venice itself. Our Invisible City in Clapham Old Town carries some of that same spirit: a house remade not simply as a home, but as a sequence of experiences, fragments that build into something unexpected and whole.
The project began with an ordinary Victorian building and a tall, three-storey brick wall behind it. We imagined the house not in isolation, but as part of this setting, embracing the wall to create a double-height volume at its heart – a space that feels at once enclosed and open, like stepping into a Venetian courtyard or quiet backstreet.
A generously proportioned entrance leads to the dining area, linking the front reception room with the kitchen. And then, the surprise: the space opens suddenly, dramatically, into that soaring, double-height living room. Light drops in from above. Air moves freely. Inside and out begin to blur.
Steel-framed Crittall glazing reshapes the rear façade, its rhythm echoing the Victorian windows beside it. A sunken terrace extends the house into the garden, with worktops for cooking, eating, lingering outdoors. Steps rise to a lawn and a small workspace tucked beyond, completing the journey. The result is a home of shifting scales and atmospheres, a place of streets, courtyards, and light.
- Architecture
- Matthew Giles Architects
- Interior Design
- Matthew Giles Architects
- Landscape Design
- need to find out
- Photography
- Logan Irvine-MacDougall
- Main Contractor
- Lukas Construction Limited