Earl’s Court Apartments
2002
The three-storey apartment sits on top of an elegant 19th century stuccoed terraced house overlooking an established London square. You must climb up four floors before you even get to the front door. The design was conceived as a journey up towards daylight. On entering the flat you sense the presence of light far above. You are then taken on a spiral journey up to bright spaces at the top of the house.
The living space is on the top floor and it runs the whole length of the building. The ceiling is an undulating layer of white with light coming through from above. In some places, the room becomes higher to admit light from different directions as the sun moves through the day. Above the sitting room, a roof terrace is built with long seams of glass running through the floor. It is these seams that illuminate the rooms below.
Like a ship in a bottle, the staircase climbs up through three floors. It doesn’t touch the edges of the stairwell. This allows light to flow past the stairs and travel deep down into the building. The stair was made in a factory in one piece and then it was craned into its container through a hole in the roof.