ADAMSON ROAD NW3

Our clients, the St Mungo Association had run a supported home in the two adjoining Victorian houses for twenty years, and wanted to build somewhere that would accommodate a number of different activities in the garden of the existing house (such things as yoga, computer studies, art, cooking, etc), so that residents from the association's other projects in NW3 could take advantage of the services and facilities on offer without overloading the provisions of the existing hostel.

It took two and a half years and three applications before consent was granted. In order to minimise the disruption created by the construction work, we used a very simple timber construction technique using virtually no wet trades. The roof is covered with FSC cedar shingles, the exterior clad in larch boarding and all the window and door frames made in hardwood.

There was no access to the garden except via the (fully occupied) basement of the hostel itself so the first six days were spent moving virtually all the building components into the garden where it remained until it was needed.