15 Rotherfield close is designed for a couple who are partly retired and want a home that is flexible enough to last them for the rest of their lives.

The site is at the end of a mews to the rear of the house which they lived in for fifteen years. Its constraints imposed the kind of restrictions on form which got the Architects thinking creatively about how to carve out a building with joyous spaces.

Although the external areas are small they are treated as an extension of internal rooms and windows and roof lights are positioned to capitalise on the borrowed landscape and trees in the surrounding gardens without compromising privacy.

Given the constraints of budget and orientation, the house has been designed to minimise energy consumption by increasing airtightness, and insulation whilst maximising the potential for passive solar gain, renewable energy sources and daylight.