Light House / RISE Design Studio

Text description provided by the architects. RISE Design Studio has refurbished and extended a tired Victorian terrace house in South London, creating a floorplan that flows with gradients of light for a professional couple. The project name speaks to the changing nature of light in each zone of the home. The rear suntrap kitchen with large glazed skylights, garden window, and patio doors is the bright, social heart of the home. The clients can retreat to the darker, cozy snug, and the center of the ground floor plan, or enjoy softer light in the front sitting room or upstairs rooms, designed for rest or working from home.

The clients, George Cotter, a lawyer, and Kristie Malivindi, a design director, found RISE Design Studio while researching architectural precedents and immediately connected with the studio’s approach to light, materials, sustainability, and craftsmanship. The brief, which was originally to create a side return extension and modernize the kitchen, developed as RISE Design Studio guided the clients through refurbishment ideas of the upper floors, alongside advice on how to incorporate environmentally-conscious assets.

The project reconnects the kitchen, previously a small separate galley at the rear, to the rest of the house to mark a new space for entertaining and socializing. RISE Design Studio excavated almost a meter down to create a generous volume in the new kitchen and emphasize the abundant natural light from the up-and-over-glazing. Original brick walls have been retained and restored, adding to the Brooklyn-inspired industrial palette of steel, porcelain, concrete, and timber. Thermally-broken steel and glass doors lead out to the landscaped garden, also designed by RISE.

Upstairs, RISE Design Studio carefully rearranged the first and second-floor plans to maintain the property’s three-bedroom listing while enhancing the function of each room, and the flow of the plan. The clients’ brief included a large master bathroom and utility which now stands where a small bedroom once was, consequently RISE added a dormer extension to house an extra guest suite and home office. RISE Design Studio’s signature approach to the sensitive use of materials and the environment is felt throughout the house.

The bespoke oak and porcelain kitchen, custom steel display cabinet, handmade oak balustrade, and bathroom cabinetry all embody the studio’s rigorous approach to tailored spaces that meet a high environmental standard. RISE Design Studio guided the clients through adding photovoltaic solar panels to the roof, a mechanical ventilation heat recovery system, thermally-broken steel glazing, and sealing the home for airtightness.