Notes from the studio.

A house is mostly a way of standing in weather. We spend a lot of time at the start of a project simply watching a site. We note where the wind comes from in the afternoon and where the first light lands on a winter morning. We note the places where people on the street can see in, and the places where the neighbours cannot.

Those observations decide more than any style ever will. A window that faces the sea needs a deep reveal and a heavy shutter. A courtyard that is sheltered from the south west can be used all year. A roof that falls toward the garden can carry the rain to where it is wanted.

The result is rarely dramatic. It is usually a plain house with a very particular position. We think that is the point. A building that is right for its place looks as if it was always going to be there.

Every client asks for more space, and most of them are right to. But more space is not always more rooms. A narrow passage that is also a bookshelf is bigger than a wide one that is only a passage. A bench that is also a stair saves a metre on each side.

We try to make each square metre do two things before we add another one. It keeps the building smaller, which lowers the cost of building it and the cost of living in it. It also makes each room feel more intended.

When a house is small and well planned, people tend to use all of it. When a house is large and loosely planned, they often live in a third of it. We would rather draw the first kind.