Designed for practice, performance and expression.

This residential house in Penshurst Gardens, North London began its transformation not as a remodel, but as a rediscovery of what the site could be. Originally a modest two-storey dwelling in need of repair, the project revealed an opportunity to reorganise, extend and reframe the home around light, movement, and creative life.

MAAPS was appointed to reimagine the architectural potential of the property, guided by a clear set of principles: to introduce a sense of largesse, to strengthen the relationship between house and garden, to elevate the staircase as the connective heart of the home, and to ensure every level benefitted from natural light.

The rear of the house was carefully demolished, extended and rebuilt, transforming the original two storeys into four. A sequence of spaces unfolds vertically and horizontally — from generous kitchen, dining and reception rooms opening onto the garden, to private family accommodation above, and an extensive basement level designed as an intimate rehearsal, performance, and recording environment.

This lower-ground space was conceived with particular sensitivity. Rather than treating it as secondary accommodation, MAAPS approached it as a purpose-built creative room, acoustically considered and spatially calm — a place for focused practice and small-scale performance, discreetly embedded within the domestic fabric of the house.

Despite the scale of transformation, the external expression retains the simplicity and honesty of the original building, with a carefully layered rear façade that allows the architecture to feel grounded, familiar, and quietly expansive.

The result is a home that supports both everyday family life and serious creative work — a place where architecture acts as a framework for living, making, and gathering, without hierarchy or spectacle.