North of London, a former car park is transformed into a design house

Combining brick and concrete in dialogue with steel, light wood, custom-made furniture and a curated collection of objects, the reuse of a residual space at the back of a convenience store has taken on a sophisticated and playful character.

In Stoke Newington, North London, the synergy between the architectural practice Nikjoo and developer Flawk has breathed new life into a leftover space to the rear of a convenience store and originally used as a delivery depot and car park, by transforming it into a new, single-family dwelling with a focus on design.

The building, nestled among existing buildings of different types, stands as a monolithic element in its context thanks to the use of deep red bricks on the façade, in dialogue with the Victorian buildings in the area, and pale pink mortar joints mixed and tested on site, recalling the hues of the post-war adjacent buildings.

Rooms radiant with light, filtering through floor-to-ceiling windows and skylights, are distributed on three levels: the ground floor houses the living area with the wide open plan kitchen, dining room and living room; the first floor includes two double bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and storage room; the second floor includes a master bedroom with walk-in wardrobe, en-suite bathroom and a panoramic terrace.

Inside, a palette of a few, selected materials composes warm and enveloping spaces, featuring an obsessive attention to details. The rough exposed concrete block walls (functional to guarantee thermal inertia and insulation) dialogue with the custom-made furniture elements designed by Flawk (including the brushed stainless steel kitchen and dining table) and are figuratively softened by the warm finishes in oak and Douglas fir. The collection of exclusive objects and accessories, commissioned and carefully curated by Flawk, brings a sophistication that reflects the project team's desire to support emerging local design: from handmade curtain rings, to locally sourced fabrics, to hand-carved mirrors.

A sophistication tempered, however, by playful touches, easy to spot in the portholes piercing the west façade, in the candle holder on the landing that provides an unconventional reinterpretation of domestic lighting, in the balustrade of the staircase with steel cables and suspended beads, also reproposed in the hinges of the custom-made shelving in the bedrooms, reminiscent of a childhood toy.

Interior design: Flawk Structural engineering: AS Construction & Structural Engineering Construction: U&U construction Committente: Flawk