Tucked away within the affluent bustle of London’s Mayfair, Down
Street Mews immediately struck us as a hidden gem, a secret place,
offering the opportunity to think differently about these two houses we
were being asked to design. Inspired by the iconic La Maison de Verre
and Japanese architectural screens, our design explores the balance
of light, privacy, and form. Our starting point was the simplest of forms:
‘the cube’, easy to identify in complex, dense surroundings. So, the
body of each house is a glass cube with an entrance courtyard set
between them.

La Maison de Verre (translated as ‘House of Glass’), a hidden but
well-known multi-award-winning piece of architecture in the 7th
arrondissement of Paris sparked the idea of creating two glass
box houses. Built-in 1932 behind the solemn carriage entrance of a
traditional French residence, La Maison de Verre is not only a milestone
of modern architecture but also the splendid result of collaboration
between a furniture and interior designer, Pierre Chareau; a Dutch
architect, Bernard Bijovet; and a metal worker, Luis Dalbet, making
the architectural language of this internally sophisticated light catcher,
consistent and coherent from the scale of the façade to the scale of
the furniture.

These characteristics of la Maison de Verre provided a great source of
inspiration with its translucent and glowing form, open-plan arrangement
and the honesty of materials. For our houses at Down Street Mews, the
composition of the glass façades is an interpretation of the Japanese
sliding screens made of either white translucent paper, which provides
light warmth and intimacy (the shoji), or opaque paper for privacy and
the interaction between the outside and the inside (the fusuma).

Situated in Down Street Mews, a small, discreet and
very private gated mews moments from Piccadilly,
Green Park and Hyde Park, these brand-new
residences offer a visionary architectural landmark
and innovative development, setting new standards
of sophistication powered by carbon-neutral ground
source engineering. Truly exceptional, these residences
present meticulously designed accommodation driven
by emphasis on detailing, expert craftsmanship and
incomparable safety and security.

Presently configured as two individual single
residences, the design provides a rare opportunity, after
minor changes, to create a single house or alternative
uses that can greatly enhance the already superb
accommodation.