Slot House by Sandy Rendel Architects

The challenge of this project was to tease functional and delightful spaces out of an unpromising opportunity. The plot was a narrow 2.8m wide break in an existing terrace, bounded by flank walls on both sides, that had lain vacant for a number of years.

We made a conscious decision to eschew a previous planning consent for a larger 3-storey house in favour of a more appropriate smaller 2-storey 1-bed scheme prioritising quality of space over minimising space standards and maximising value.

To fully exploit the constrained width, avoid loading the neighbouring structures and straddle shared utilities running under the site, the house was constructed using a lightweight steel frame on a piled slab.

The steelwork was prefabricated as a series of portal frames that were craned down the alley and site-welded together. Given that every inch in such a narrow space is valuable we chose to fully weld the connections and express the frame internally, even utilising the depth of the steels to maximise the space.

Alongside the painted steel a simple palette of spruce plywood, douglas fir joists, terrazzo and cork flooring enriches the interior. Externally the timber framed walls are clad in handmade pewter glazed tiles.