This south London dwelling by Takero Shimazaki Architects transforms a derelict urban site into a tranquil family retreatThis project was shortlisted in the 2024 AR House awards. Read about the full shortlist hereThe as found a way of appraising the existing conditions of a site was championed by Alison and Peter Smithson and their contemporaries in the Independent Group of the 1950s. Not only adjacent buildings but all those marks that constitute remembrances in a place, explained Peter Smithson. This idea celebrates the prosaic, urging architects to work with the inherent traces of a place rather than erasing them, and reframes architectural practice as one of integration, where the existing context is a vital part of the new design.In Niwa House, tucked away down a narrow lane behind a row of south London terraces, Takero Shimazaki Architects have drawn on this ethos in response to a once derelict brownfield plot. Formerly the site of a glass manufacturer, existing boundary walls have been retained and reconstructed to match the existing London stock brick, anchoring the house to its urban fabric and nodding to the industrial legacy of the site.As well as respecting the sites pre-existing conditions, the house weaves together an architectural language that responds to the British Japanese heritage of the client. The houses timber forest of columns, for example, references the horizontal house typologies of Japan, and is reminiscent of traditional Japanese temple architecture. The house is also rooted in the Japanese concept of ma the art of the interval, in which empty spaces hold as much importance as the built. The interior spaces pivot around two double-height courtyards, puncturing the building to reach the lower ground level and featuring 4m-tall cherry trees. These pocket gardens allow light and air to be drawn into the bedrooms below ground, which are accessed via stairs or a lift.The term niwa, the houses namesake, is Japanese for garden, a reference to the garden in which the house sits, planted with both British and Japanese vegetation. In one corner of the garden, a studio sits on the footprint of a small structure that once housed industrial activity.The site of Niwa House, as found before commencing constructionCredit:Courtesy of Takero Shimazaki ArchitectsViews of the garden are framed by the houses timber structure. The large, uninterrupted spans are possible due to the innovative composite structure; glulam timber is sandwiched between limestone to form the roof, held aloft by a grid of glulam columns. Designed in collaboration with engineers Webb Yates, this structural system used here for the first time in a full-size project minimises embedded carbon while enhancing the thermal performance of the home. The stone also reduces the size of the glulam members by providing added stiffness, allowing a slender structure. As Shimazaki observes, constructing a house out of timber and stone is not common in the UK, and this project offers a fresh way of looking at how houses are made.