Fletcher Crane Architects has designed The Water Gardens Pod, a three-bedroom house below a seventeen-storey high-rise on the Water Gardens estate near Hyde Park, London.
The infill development was commissioned by charity institution The Church Commissioners, the owner of the estate, which was designed in 1966 as luxury residences.
Top: The house is set beneath the 1960s tower block. Above: Water Gardens Pod was designed for The Church Commissioners
Fletcher Crane Architects fitted out an existing office in the high-rise itself as the main kitchen and living space, wrapped it in glass and connected it to the new pod through a glass link.
The pod, which together with the glass link measures 74 square metres, holds three bedrooms and three bathrooms and is made from cross-laminated timber (CLT) with a tiled exterior. A glass link connects the kitchen in the existing building with the new build
"The scheme was conceived as a very simple addition to the existing context," Fletcher Crane Architects director Toby Fletcher told Dezeen.
"It's as if excavated from the tower block and consequentially may not be identified as being a new build addition to a passer-by," he added.
"Only upon closer inspection, the inward aspect scheme facing the Water Gardens becomes more apparent."
Large windows face the water gardens that the estate is named for
Water Gardens Pod's southern-facing facade is glazed and faces the semi-private water gardens, for which the es...