Adaptable House (6 Doughty Mews)

The Adaptable House (6 Doughty Mews) is an early 19th century mews house built around the same time Doughty Street was first laid down. The street was a gated residential reserve in between the London boroughs of the City and Westminster. The house was rebuilt in the 20th century possibly as a result of wartime bomb damage.

It was purchased by architects Cany Ash and Robert Sakula of Ash Sakula Architects, transforming the house into more than just a family home. At the time of purchase, it was completely derelict with the ground floor previously used as a printer’s workshop and the upper levels as storerooms. The house was rebuilt with an additional floor, roof garden and a bathroom. Over 30 years of design ideas and changes were made to meet the reflecting uses and demands implementing different strategies such as miniaturisation and spatial illusion.

Ground floor is the garage where it is used concurrently for storage but can be interchanged to become a wider space for recreational activities such as a playroom, party room, small theatre/cinema and events space.


Bathroom

Bathroom

Tree Room



Kitchen

The first floor contains the kitchen, tree room, bathroom and WC. Kitchen features open shelves and a large rack for crockeries above the sink coated in cast iron. Kitchen cupboard are covered in zinc. The tree room is a spare bedroom, which was previously used as an office and playroom. Two doors are used for the room, giving the first floor a circular motion through the kitchen into the tree room and back into the kitchen.

Small Front Bedroom

Large Front Bedroom

 

Fireplace Room

Fireplace Room

Fireplace Room

The second floor was previously the roof to the original two storey house but was extended with an additional floor and roof. The second floor contains the fireplace room, small front bedroom and large bedroom. The fireplace room is currently used as a bedroom and has previously been used as a living room, studio and playroom. The beams in the fireplace room used to hold up the roof doubles up as bookcases. The front small bedroom makes use of the space above the staircase while the large front bedroom used to hold the stairs to the roof bedroom until rearrangements allowed another bedroom.

Roof Bedroom

Roof Garden



Roof Garden

Roof Garden

The roof held the roof garden and the roof bedroom. The roof bedroom can be accessed from the second floor from a steep staircase or a door on the roof. The roof garden can be accessed from a spiral staircase. The roof garden’s table was an old door and the chimney can be used as a barbeque.

From down the road at 29 Doughty Mews comes another Ash Sakula Architects design which was completed in 1996 and won a RIBA award the year after.