Mews Housing, Chelsea

This small residential project is located on a hidden infill site between rows of terrace houses in the heart of Chelsea. 

The brief was to provide a very compact but comfortable living environment whilst resolving issues of privacy, space and light on a very small and almost inaccessible site. The principal of increasing housing density was in accordance with the Local Development Framework.

The density of the proposal was achieved by converting an existing Victorian terrace house into maisonette apartments and replacing an existing workshop building with four new mews houses, and one long narrow apartment stretching over a new access road. 

The design of the mews housing had to fit within the building volume of the existing workshop building and re-uses its back (north facing) wall in order to reduce disruption to neighbours.

Access was created by knocking through the existing garage at the ground level of the Victorian terrace house, and each unit is thus provided with its own parking space on site. The mews units have front doors opening into a main living space with winding stairs up to bedrooms on the first floor.

Rooftop studios / garden rooms open up to private, south facing terraces providing generous outside space in the dense city environment.  

The shallow roof pitches of the new mews fall towards the north reducing overshadowing of the gardens behind.  At the back of the houses sky lights are introduced to stair wells, whilst bay windows and balconies are angled on the south façade to minimise the problem of overlooking.