Bishop’s Stortford is a project designed by Nicola Chambers – Architect. The plot was a tight town centre site in Bishop?s Stortford that originally formed part of the neighbour?s back garden. The site, which slopes in two directions, was accessed through a narrow private access drive which already served three houses. This meant that access for the neighbours would have to be maintained at all times, while at the same time providing all necessary site access down a single track drive. Photography by Owen Davies.

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The site was sold with an outline planning permission for a small two bedroomed chalet style house but the brief from Kirsty and Joe was a four bedroom, four bathroom, family house with a double garage and garden. We had to work hard to accommodate this increased volume on the site while at the same time respecting the immediate context. This meant that planning of the house had to be very efficient and compact. To this end everything is arranged around a central, top lit, double height entrance hall containing the staircase which reduces circulation space to a minimum. Large sliding doors on the ground floor also mean that the spaces can be opened up to each other and the garden but still screened off for privacy if required.
By using the sloping site to our advantage we have been able to accommodate the volume of a generous family house on a tight site in close proximity to the neighbouring properties. Deceptively modes...