Self-Built House in Hackney

As with Walter Segal’s houses, self-building at any scale should allow self-builders a degree of antonymous control to construct and adapt their housing to meet their lifestyles.

This project considers how the location of the building’s key space-forming elements, (services, structure and stairs) could be positioned to allow a three-bedroom house the potential to change provision over time and accommodate changing family sizes.

The ground floor of the proposal can function as a large self-contained one bedroom flat, with the kitchen services being stacked on first floor for a separate one bedroom flat above.

The ground floor living and dining room are generous with a central oak column describing the threshold between cooking and dining. The external walls are constructed as a series of platform frames that would be built on the ground before being lifted into place manually by a group of self-builders.