Light House

Light House sits on a long, narrow, sloping site in St Heliers, and was shaped around a single question: how do you get real daylight into the centre of a house this shape without compromising a family's need for a home that will still work for them in twenty years? The answer was three roof windows, placed with precision rather than symmetry, that pull light down into the core of the plan. That light does more than illuminate: it moves through the day, catching the texture of mortar-less grey masonry block, mosaic tiles, timber batten screens, and an open slatted stair, so the interior reads differently morning, noon, and evening.

Performance runs just as deep as the material palette. Thermally modified timber cladding wraps a highly insulated envelope, keeping the house durable, efficient to run, and low maintenance over time. The roof goes further again: its warm-roof membrane is coated in titanium dioxide, which actively breaks down atmospheric pollution into a salt that simply washes away in the rain, a small, unglamorous piece of building science doing real work above the family's heads.