Dezeen Magazine

Valetta House by Office S&M

Ten extraordinary homes you can explore during Open House London

More than 800 buildings open up their doors for Open House London this weekend, including an assortment of unique houses and residential projects. Dezeen editor Amy Frearson reveals the 10 you should visit while you can, including a house with red metal walls and a micro flat.


Valetta House by Office S&M

Valetta House by Office S&M

Catrina Stewart and Hugh McEwen of Office S&M added a series of playful additions in their revamp of this Victorian house in Ealing.

As well as a loft extension featuring wooden shingles and yellow arched windows, it boasts a colour scheme that divides spaces for adults and children.

71 Valetta Road, W3 7TG


Garden House by Hayhurst and Co

Garden House by Hayhurst & Co

A steeply stepped roof covered in over 800 plants is the highlight of this home and studio for Hackney-based leather-design duo Whitaker Malem.

Described by architects Jonathan Nicholls and Nick Hayhurst as a "hanging-basket roof", this tiered structure comprises a pyramid-like tower of planters containing sedums and heathers.

27 Buckingham Road, N1 4DG


Sun Rain Rooms by Tonkin Liu

Winner of the latest Don't Move, Improve! awards, this renovated Georgian townhouse in Clerkenwell is the home and workplace of architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu.

The house boasts a curvy new extension, with a concave, plant-covered roof on top and a shallow pool of water at its centre.

5 Wilmington Square, WC1X 0ES


Holland Park House by Architecture for London and Liddicoat & Goldhill

This property is located on Woodsford Square, the housing estate in Holland Park built by pioneering architects Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew in 1966.

A recent renovation has given the property a more open-plan layout and a rear extension, demonstrating the flexibility of the original design.

73 Woodsford Square, W14 8DS


Tin House by Henning Stummel Architects

Tin House by Henning Stummel Architects

Located in Shepherd's Bush, the home of architect Henning Stummel consists of six small red buildings, each clad in red metal and organised around a simple courtyard.

Every block has different dimensions, but they are all topped with chimney-shaped skylights that direct daylight into the rooms within.

Smugglers Yard, Devonport Road, W12 8PB


15 Clerkenwell Close by Groupwork and Amin Taha

A contender in the housing category of Dezeen Awards, this seven-storey-high apartment block features a structural exoskeleton of raw quarried stone.

Each slab was carved by hand and they fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

15A Clerkenwell Close, EC1R 0AA


Sunken Bath by Studio 304

Sunken Bath Project by Studio 304

This tiny house extension provides its owner with a sunken bathtub for Japanese-style bathing.

The 2017 winner of Don't Move Improve, the project offers an alternative to the kitchen extension that is more typically added to London's Victorian properties.

Ground Floor Flat, 33 Dunlace Road, E5 0NF


Old Oak Common by PLP Architecture and The Collective

The Collective Old Oak

Cooperative housing models have been growing in popularity, with recent research showing that they can make city life more affordable and pleasurable. These developments offer residents a more sociable style of living, as well as access to facilities they might not otherwise have been able to afford.

As the largest co-housing development in the world, The Collective Old Oak shows what this style of living is really like.

Nash House, Old Oak Lane, NW10 6FF


Micro flat in Islington by Diego Dalpra

Islington Micro Flat by CIAO

With a floor plan of just 35-square-metres, this small apartment demonstrates how you can make the most of space in your home.

CIAO director Diego Dalpra completely redesigned the interior, getting rid of the useless corridors and installing bespoke space-saving furniture, to make the space feel as big as possible.

Flat B, 23 Islington Park Street, N1 1QB


31/44 Architects complete Red House in East Dulwich, London

Red House by 31/44 Architects

This new addition to a terrace of houses in East Dulwich stands out from the rest, thanks to a bold facade of red bricks and sculptural tiles.

Inside, the open-plan living space is arranged around a lightwell filled with plants and a striking concrete fireplace.

37 St Aidans Road, SE22 0RN