Southwark Brick House

Southwark Brick House is a contemporary three-bedroom home in Bermondsey, designed and delivered by Satish Jassal Architects on a constrained former garage site within the Thorburn Square Conservation Area.

Set within a residential context defined by historic terraces and later apartment buildings, the design carefully reconciles a sensitive heritage setting with the ambition to create a spacious, modern family home. The building is arranged as two brick wings over two storeys with a basement level, connected by a central staircase.

The proximity of neighbouring properties and gardens informed a strategy of lowering the building into the ground by approximately one metre. This reduces its visual impact, while a retained and underpinned historic boundary wall conceals the lower level and defines the street edge. The building line is set back to respect the existing context, while the side elevation sits directly above the historic wall.

The architecture draws on elements of the local vernacular, including blank gables, flat rooflines and vertically proportioned oak-framed windows. These are reinterpreted in a contemporary form to create a building that is both contextual and distinctive.

Materiality is central to the design. Red West Hoathly Sharpthorne brick contrasts with the existing London stock boundary wall, while complementing the warm tones of oak windows and panels. Deep-set openings and integrated ventilation panels give the façades depth, solidity and a crafted quality.

The project has been widely recognised, including a RIBA London Award 2023, a Surface Design Award 2023 for Housing, and a shortlist for the BDA Brick Awards 2022. It demonstrates how constrained urban sites can be transformed into high-quality homes rooted in materiality, context and careful design.Our Southwark Brick House has won a RIBA London 2023 award