Architects: Da Costa Mahindroo Architects (DROO)
Design Team: Amrita Mahindroo, Michel da Costa Gonçalves
Photography: Henry Woide
City: London
Country: United Kingdom
The Cascade residential house, designed by Da Costa Mahindroo Architects in London, UK, reconfigures domestic space into a continuous spatial sequence where everyday activities unfold across stepped platforms. Developed with DROO Architects, the design opens the lower ground into a double-height volume, connecting interior spaces to the garden through a rising surface. Skylights above mirror the stepped terrain, enhancing light and visual continuity. Victorian references are retained through subtle material details, creating a cohesive narrative that links the building’s past with its present architectural language.
The Cascade house project avoids conventional zoning by using spatial elevation to define function, allowing each level to serve as a stage for a specific domestic activity. A suspended mezzanine visually marks the limit of the original structure, while material transitions and layered details reference the building’s Victorian origins without replicating them. In the bathrooms, fine tilework and integrated fireplace fixtures introduce tactile and historical depth, embedding memory into the new configuration. These precise interventions frame domestic rituals as part of an evolving architectural landscape shaped by both heritage and use.
The architects envisioned the house as “an operatic living experience,” materialized through platforms that ascend through the home while dissolving the separation between inside and out. These elements are organized as a single continuous surface that begins in the garden and gradually steps into the building. To prevent the lower ground level from feeling like a basement, the architects removed structural barriers and extended the floor plan to create a new double-height space that anchors the kitchen. This volume opens directly to the garden and connects visually to a suspended mezzanine, allowing natural light to permeate the house.
Above, the ceiling mirrors the cascading landscape below. A series of skylights step down toward the original Victorian structure, preserving light access and framing views. This alignment between the ground and roof establishes a vertical rhythm across the house, linking past and present through both structure and light.
Material continuity reinforces this spatial logic. On the upper levels, bedrooms, and bathrooms are finished in soft, natural pinks and feature custom joinery that continues the earthy tones of the lower floor. Bathrooms are lined with neutral textured tiles, interspersed with pink terracotta, and arranged in layered stepped formations. These surfaces reference traditional Victorian detailing while introducing new material depth through finely grooved tilework.
Elements from the house’s history are preserved and reinterpreted. The glazed mezzanine marks the original footprint of the building, suspended above the new living space as a quiet architectural trace. In the bathroom, bathtub taps are embedded within fireplace components, blending past ornamentation with current function. These subtle gestures allow the house to narrate its transformation without nostalgia.
The Cascade constructs a sequence of interconnected spaces that elevate domestic life into a spatial experience. By reworking the flow of interior programs and embedding traces of the home’s past into its materials and structure, the project creates a living environment that responds to both context and use.
Project Gallery
Project Location
Address: London, United Kingdom
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
