Catching Sun House Walthamstow property, Modern Northeast London building project, English home images
Catching Sun House in Walthamstow
17 + 16 May 2025
Design: Studioshaw
Location: Walthamstow, Northeast London, England, UK
Photos by James Brittain
Catching Sun House, Walthamstow, London, UK
Studioshaw’s Catching Sun House has been awarded a prestigious 2025 RIBA London Award, recognised for its masterful response to site constraints and the poetic use of light, nature, and materials. Designed and developed by architect and practice founder Mark Shaw as his own home, the project transformed a disused MOT garage site in Walthamstow into a tranquil urban sanctuary.
The jury praised the house as “unexpected and serene” highlighting the architect’s care in studying the orientation and passage of the sun before fixing the design. The building replaces a previously consented scheme, entirely reimagined by Studioshaw to create a highly contextual, light-filled home. The studio navigated a complex planning and consents process, including 27 party wall agreements.
Organised as a series of interlinked volumes, the house’s structure plays with solid and void, both external and internal, to draw light into every part of the scheme.
The roof forms are pitched individually to reach up to the sky, bringing daylight deep into the home and enhancing the sense of space and calm. At 100m² internally (150m² including external terraces), the single-storey house includes one elevated room, a snug-study accessed via a compact stair, designed to support stack-effect ventilation and frame views across surrounding gardens, and over to the nearby marshes.
The house unfolds around three distinct courtyards, one oriented to capture low winter sun, while the others are planted to enhance biodiversity. The planting and greenery, developed in collaboration with garden designer Charlie Hawkes, guide visitors along a planted corridor into the property. Unexpected gestures include a lush, secluded outdoor bathroom featuring a sunken bath enveloped by jungle-like greenery- offering a striking contrast to the dense urban surroundings and creating
a true escape from city life.
Materially, the architecture is restrained but complex. A palette of fair-faced concrete block, polished concrete floors, timber linings, and anodised aluminium frames is executed with elegance and clarity. Interior and exterior surfaces flow seamlessly together, minimising the need for decorative finishes and reducing long-term maintenance. Splashes of colour and planting animate the otherwise pared back aesthetic.
The project also integrates robust sustainable strategies, in line with Studioshaw’s core credo. These include passive ventilation measures to keep the interior cool in summer and warm in winter. An air source heat pump, paired with enhanced insulation and a whole-house heat-recovery ventilation system, further reduces energy demand, ensuring year-round comfort with minimal environmental impact.
The carefully reconstructed Victorian garden walls and the house’s sunken form further embed it into its context, providing privacy while maintaining access to daylight and sky views.
“This project embodies a philosophy of wellbeing and sustainable design at the core of what we do”, said architect Mark Shaw. “It’s more than just a house, it’s an urban retreat. We’ve aimed to create a restorative environment where daylight, greenery, and calm spaces come together to enhance wellbeing.”
The RIBA London Award recognised Studioshaw’s ability to work expertly within complex urban conditions, navigating planning, constraints, and context, to deliver quietly radical architecture with lasting value.
The Jury said: ‘Tucked away and barely visible from the road, the site had perhaps been too challenging for a commercial developer (there were 27 party walls). The architect-owner has used great skill to respond very deliberately to context and orientation to create an unexpected and serene home.
The permitted scheme was put to one side. Waiting some time before beginning development, the site’s orientation and the passage of the sun over it were carefully studied before the revised design was fixed’.
Catching Sun House in Walthamstow, London – Building Information
Architect: Studioshaw – https://www.studioshaw.co.uk/
Project Title: Catching Sun House
Location: Walthamstow, London
Size: 150m2 (including external terraces)
Completion: June 2021
Client: Mark Shaw
Interiors: Studioshaw
Garden design and landscaping: Charlie Hawkes (completed 2024)
Photography: James Brittain
2025 RIBA London Awards Winners
Catching Sun House, Walthamstow, London images / information received 300620
Location: Walthamstow, Northeast London, UK.
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