Harfield Gardens Southwark home, Quinn Architects South London residential property, Architecture images
Harfield Gardens Southwark home
26 May 2025
A remodel and extension of a mid-century-style 1970s house. The new design improves energy efficiency and aesthetics while preserving its original character.
Design: Quinn Architects
Location: Southwark, London, England, UK
Photos by Elliot Sheppard
A retrofit of a mid-century-style house
Jury citation:
Harfield Gardens by Quinn Architects
This modest remodelling and extension of a unique mid-century-style house built in Southwark in 1979 transformed a cold, damp building with no thermal insulation or effective heating into a warm family home. Importantly, it did so without compromising the integrity of the house’s original sprit – that of open-plan, simple volumes and panoramic windows looking into lush courtyard spaces.
The project made extensive use of the existing fabric, with an emphasis on retrofitting rather than demolition. The site is in a conservation area and the original building was designed to accommodate an additional floor.
The architects raised the soffit level of the first floor and inserted an additional floor set back from the face of the building, so it reads subserviently to the original structure. They also included window details reflecting the surrounding buildings. The single-glazed large windows were replaced with double-glazed sliding doors and windows. These retain the original outlook of key spaces onto lush bamboo-filled courtyards.
The open-plan internal layout flows; spaces overlap and borrow from adjoining spaces. The kitchen is central and the heart of the home. It is celebrated by a large rooflight that brings light to the middle of the plan and a double-volume space. This is a family that loves to cook, and the kitchen has become the focal point as all spaces lead from it or look over it.
The home is full of appropriate details that take this project from a simple extension to something exceptional. The staircase leading to the newly created upper floor does not touch the original ground floor, and the first stair floats above the floor. The new side walls match the original blockwork in every way, including lining up the mortar joints so you would not know where old stops and new begins.
The large sliding doors link inside and outside, extending the usable space of the home into the front and back protected courtyards. A hidden built-in wall ladder in a bedroom cupboard provides access to the roof. There is a generosity throughout the house that is reminiscent of the work of Louis Kahn or Luis Barragán. The careful interventions by the architect have produced a gentle home where materials are pared back, allowing the owners’ books, soft furnishings and art to take centre stage.
2025 RIBA London Awards Winners
Harfield Gardens Southwark home, London – RIBA London Awards Shortlist 2025 images / information received 130525
Location: Southwark, London, England, United Kingdom
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