Orchard View

: Hudson deMaeijer (Landsape architect): Richard Chivers (photography)

This large family home in North London is spread across just over 700sqm, and is broken into distinct volumes, to organise the spaces and break down the form.

Whilst the design of Orchard House is contemporary, it had from its inception the aim to bring the landscape into the building and to frame the views of the sky. The large floor to ceiling glazing blurs the boundary between inside and outside space and provide multi-directional views to the different parts of the house. The use of materials and light are also carefully curated design features. The pristine beauty of the white volumes at first floor brings light deep into the building and cast shadows with the shifting moods of the weather. The ground floor walls are clad in large format tiles with a beautiful pale hue that provide solidity to the lightweight volume that floats above. Orchard House is very much of the modernist tradition, but that does not come at the expense of warmth and comfort. The careful choreography of interlocking spaces and the delicate play of light set against natural materials have been designed to create a beautiful home to be enjoyed by family and friends.