Private house in Richmond

In 1990 David Chipperfield Architects completed the rebuild and transformation of the house of photographer Nick Knight and his family in Richmond, Surrey. Knight’s father had built the existing suburban house in the 1950s. In 1998, eight years after the rebuild, prompted by the family expanding, the practice was approached again to enlarge the property further, providing additional living, working and storage space.

In the development of the 1990 project, two priorities emerged: how to extend a house with volumetric requirements larger than the existing building; and how to provide sufficient daylight for a photographic studio and throughout the rest of the building. In the final designs these two concerns became complementary. The planning permission allowed a long extension to the existing rectangular building, forming an L-shaped plan. A large rectilinear concrete arch spanned the full width of the site and partially enclosed the resulting courtyard. This also served to open up the corner of the living room and framed the views from the house into the garden. The photographic studio was situated above the living room with a glazed wall and ceiling.