Smart's Place

A rooftop family home in London's historic Covent Garden

The apartment is located on Smart's Place in Holborn, within a dense network of narrow streets and blind alleys lined with mainly Victorian buildings, and situated within the Seven Dials Conservation Area. David Kohn Architects’ tiered extension responds to the richness of the surrounding roof lines, and the robust of the existing commercial building beneath. The ambitious project achieved planning permission in 2019.

Each storey steps back to reflect changing scales from multi-storey offices to domestic almshouses, with bayed facades that further engage with the architectural language of their surroundings while breaking up the massing of the extension. This respectful design approach clearly distinguishes old from new, and allows the subsidiary relationship of the new apartment to its host to be understood. Inside, the series of step-backs and bays creates rooms with unique qualities, as well as various views, light and spaces.

David Kohn Architects has worked in collaboration with landscape designer Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, who has produced a series of planted terraces on each tier of the apartment, creating a luxuriant green foil for the development in a Babylonian-style hanging garden. 

Project
New-build extension

Location
London

Client
Private

Status
Completed 2023

Design Team
David Kohn, Jennifer Dyne, Jessica Lyons, Tarn Philipp, Rebecca Liebermann, Laura Büchi, Jenny Hill, Nicola Blake, Tom Whittaker, Daniel Norman, Rachel Glenn

Collaborators
Baylight Properties
Uprise Construction
Webb Yates
Mark El-khatib
Todd Longstaffe-Gowan
millimetre
Collective Planning
Harwood

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