Words Kate Jacobs
Architectural photography Neil Perry & Rachel Ferriman
Portrait photography Sam Grady

This small award-nominated project, known by the architects as ‘Sunken House,’ is undoubtedly unique. Steps lead down to a richly planted courtyard, around which the key rooms of the house are ranged. “We’d been living in the Barbican for a long time, which we loved, but we wanted outside space,” says Jennifer. “We came here to look at a rental and saw this place. By the time we got to the bottom of the steps, we knew it was for us. It was a wow moment – I loved all the clean lines of the architecture, and everything was so thoughtfully designed.”

As a designer with her own studio, these were guiding principles for Jennifer. She’s a serial mover, but this was the first time that she was happy to move straight in, without bringing in the builders and decorators. “I’ve never walked into a place where I didn’t feel I had to do anything,” she explains, although she’s overlooking the low-key enhancements she’s made along the way.

For a house that’s below ground level, this place is bathed in gentle daylight, with floor-to-ceiling glass doors running along three sides of the central courtyard. With a bedroom at each end of this secret garden and the kitchen-dining-living space in between, all the key rooms enjoy vistas of lush evergreen planting.

At the rear of the main living space, a long rectangular roof light sends a dramatic shaft of light cascading down the wall, creating another striking focal point. Tasou Associates has also made great use of mirrors – as a kitchen splashback and bedroom wall, bouncing unexpected views of greenery around the space. “The architects have been so clever about maximising the natural light here. And when all the glass doors slide back, it feels like one space, with a seamless connection between indoors and outdoors. At night, the way they’ve done the lighting is magical. It’s a fantastic house for entertaining,” says Jennifer.

The pared-back palette of materials showcases matt concrete floors, their Brutalist quality tempered by warm oak cabinetry. “My husband is a concrete expert, and was thrilled with the concrete here, and that’s a rare thing!” smiles Jennifer. In the study that opens off the living room, she designed floating shelves and drawers in the same oak as the kitchen. “They bring a sense of balance to the main space. I’m lucky to have my own team to be able to make up my designs.”

Other additions are similarly sensitive. At the end of the kitchen, a pair of doors lead to the utility room, “So useful to have a place to be able to put anything messy out of sight,” and the guest WC (which cleverly opens onto the second bedroom, doubling as a guest en-suite). Previously white, Jennifer had the doors painted in a very specific green, inspired by the stems of the Amaryllis flower. “It’s one of my stock shades, colour is so important to me, and I think in terms of colour palettes.”

The walls here are a carefully chosen soft, warm white (“A lot of modern whites are just too fierce") with a panel of hazy grey to the rear of the living room, drawing the eye through the space while referencing the tones within the concrete floor. Jennifer’s paintings, brought out of storage after many years, and her colourful furniture all pop pleasingly. “We brought the furniture over from our Barbican flat and weren’t sure it was going to work, but it has. The orange of the sofa references the colours in our bedroom. Each room holds an element of surprise, but there’s also a sense of flow.”

The dining table and chairs are a simple black: “Sometimes you need something that isn’t going to compete,” says Jennifer. The table is her own design, again made up by her team and features castors – a signature detail for her. “Castors are fantastic things to aid life, they bring flexibility, allowing mini moments of rearranging and refreshing.”

Previously an artist, Jennifer’s business evolved by chance when she couldn’t find the perfect outdoor furniture for a previous house. “I wanted a design that would complement contemporary architecture, without overwhelming it, and this has remained the aesthetic.” The courtyard features her ‘Form’ table and benches that seem to capture and hold the light beautifully, while her drum planters, on their castors, highlight the versatility of her designs, enabling her to easily reconfigure large plants as the mood takes her.

Thanks to its insulation and underfloor heating, the house is incredibly cosy in winter (with impressively low energy bills) while in summer heatwaves, friends always comment on how the air is cooler as they come in. “Everything is so well-considered here. There’s an ease of living which has freed me up to just do what I want. I like to cook for relaxation after work and everything is to hand. It’s the classic machine for living.”