Set on a steep hillside in Highgate, this private home required a complete reimagining: a full retrofit, reorganising, extending, and total refurbishment. Purchased by our client five years ago, the house and its expansive garden held enormous potential yet demanded a radical new approach to space, light, and connection with the landscape.
This international commission takes Matthew Giles Architects to the Portuguese coast, to a gently sloping parkland near Colares, framed by pines and with expansive views towards the hills of Sintra. It is a project shaped by landscape and atmosphere – an opportunity to apply our architectural approach within a distinct cultural and environmental context, while remaining firmly grounded in our ethos.
Set in Muswell Hill, North London, the house was a jumble of disconnected rooms spread across awkward levels, a puzzle of spaces that didn’t quite speak to each other. Our clients – a former vintage furniture dealer and her family of five (three lively children and a few curious cats) – brought warmth, humour, and a spirit of adventure to the process.
Our client approached us with a challenge for a plot of land beneath the South Downs: Create a modern home that feels completely natural to this setting. This was initially a feasibility study, a chance to imagine, but the location itself was used to guide the design choices.
The clients — a family of four with two young children — came to us with a clear vision and high expectations. They were demanding, yes, but also respectful of our experience. We listened carefully, as we always do, and in turn they took the time to consider our opinions and advice. The result was a genuine collaboration, one in which ideas were tested, debated, and refined until a shared ambition emerged.
