Westward House
A new two-storey home that repairs the rhythm of a Chingford street while responding carefully to a constrained infill site.
Westward House is a new-build two-bedroom home in Chingford, London, replacing an existing single-storey bungalow on a narrow residential plot. Surrounded by predominantly two-storey houses, the proposal restores continuity to the established streetscape while significantly improving the quality and amount of accommodation on the site.
The design was shaped closely by its immediate neighbours. Existing windows along the adjoining property created sensitive daylight and outlook conditions, leading the upper floor to step away from the boundary and the roof to fall towards the more constrained side of the site. Rather than treating these limitations as secondary planning considerations, they became fundamental to the form and proportions of the house.
Towards Westward Road, the new dwelling responds to the scale and character of the established residential street through its pitched roof, brick façade and projecting bay. These familiar elements are interpreted as part of a simple contemporary composition, allowing the house to sit naturally between its neighbours without resorting to direct imitation.
Internally, the former 44 m² bungalow is replaced by approximately 94 m² of accommodation, with an open-plan kitchen, dining and living space connected directly to the rear garden and two bedrooms above. The result is a compact London infill house in which planning constraints, neighbouring amenity and residential quality are resolved through a single architectural response.