Heaven Sent

Craftworks has transformed a derelict religious building in London into a highly sculptural family residence

Designed by Craftworks, Chapel is a family home that has been ‘carved’ from a derelict religious building in London. The brief was to create an adaptable dwelling capable of encompassing a family gathering, or simultaneously retreating to become singular and introverted, writes Craftworks. Volumes and scale overlap so there are rooms within rooms, as well as micro and macro spaces working simultaneously under a sculpted roof.

The challenge of turning the chapel into a contemporary home lay in the restrictive planning process and the need to carefully negotiate privacy and overlooking of the neighbouring properties. Given the planning restrictions for the conservation area, the programme for a family house needed to surgically dovetail into the existing shell, while allowing creative freedom within an internal transfiguration. This primarily involved the construction of a lower-ground level for the bedrooms, a large ground-floor living space with a vaulted ceiling, and a mezzanine level for privacy and retreat inserted within the living space.

Though it was never consecrated as a chapel, the building’s ‘unhallowed’ status became the driver for architectural intervention. The vocabulary of structural components – axis, narthex, fan vault, nave and crossing – have been recast with similar dwelling archetypes: medieval hall houses, Victorian attic spaces, and long galleries. Similarly, interior elements, such as the pulpit box, confession, altar, pipe organ, and matroneum have been interwoven with everyday forms of domestic furniture and situated around the activities of eating, sleeping, cooking, relaxing and study. Vertically, the spaces divide between day and night, heaven and earth.

The in-between spaces provide opportunities to foster and play out everyday domestic life without constraint or precondition. The entrance steps create a place to momentarily rest in the sun, while the internal staircase is wide enough to sit and read a book. A window slot frames cherry blossom, the inglenook invites intimate conversation, and a private study is placed within the ‘cloud’ of the roof to induce concentration.

Materials are ascetic and contradictory in their quality so as to enrich and resonate with the emotional atmosphere. Reclaimed bricks from the existing chapel have been used externally, while the roof employs reclaimed roof slate from local sources.

The inner volume comprises a pearly shell of waxed lime plaster with a timber floor of extra-wide bleached Douglas fir boards. The latter contrast with the austere dark tones of the fumed oak joinery. All the work was carried out by Craftworks’ in-house team of local craftsmen and subcontractors.

A 500-square-metre landscaped garden surrounds the building, creating a hidden sanctuary away from the city. Its design continues the undulating, faceted nature of the vaulted ceiling with criss-crossing rusty steel borders, perforated steel and bold, vibrant planting.