We did not want to develop a house; rather a temple; an example of how to make a brilliant terrace. Light comes in through every possible place. We love that the rear is a solid and not so open façade; it protects the oasis that is within from harsh light and visibility.

This house has four levels on a narrow site but every room is its own order of spaces. The client is as obsessive as us in the design process and he instigated critical design agendas such as the timber-slatted staircase, which is one of the most beautiful things we have done.

This house sits in a street in Paddington behind a façade, which for much time has held its fort in this place.

The nature of a terrace can be re-examined, however; a concept that can provide many solutions; but here, slivers of light to the west emerge from the planning that is resolved around the front façade's present forms (a door on the east of the street façade forms an immediate agenda for rooms to the west); there is always a consideration of moving toward the light where light is difficult to achieve.

The rear façade is "enclosing" rather than "open" and develops a relation with the outside like a widening aperture to the light. It constricts the entry of light and assists in the generation of the façade within a tripartite composition. It holds the space like the sphinx in Egypt, the rear courtyard's repose lays in the subtleties of space between two yielding arms, the two courtyard walls.