Dartmouth Park House

Pulling light back into the heart of the building and ridding it of doors and short corridors was the primary task; creating two slots and articulating the knuckle between the two with a staircase has been the solution. AY has scooped out the gloomy and narrow staircase compartment and a landing bathroom and created a full-height slot some 9m high and glazed to the rear.

The theatricality of the staircase negotiating the angle between these slots creates a sense of movement through the house – it is a place to be discovered, rather than laid out to be taken in at a glance. The iMist fire safety system has allowed an absence of compartmentalisation, with only bedrooms and bathrooms needing doors. 

The second slot was created within the middle of the full-width rear extensions in the form of a courtyard sunk to ground floor level, dividing the living areas from a new bedroom floor across the court on the rear boundary wall. Within this court a lay-light illuminates a basement study, while a second at the upper, surrounding terrace at first floor level is placed above a bath and shower. The new layout creates a room for entertaining between front façade and courtyard on the ground floor, with a kitchen and dining room at the first floor that have direct access to the roof terrace. Bedrooms and bathrooms are scattered across three floors. Views are possible from the front of the house, through the courtyard and bedroom, and then out to the steeply sloping back gardens.