This week we have seen some creative adaptations of unused space. First was Fakro’s “Live Between Buildings,” which proposes to use the unlit spaces between buildings to make a separate building. Today we look at a subterranean home made in a former public toilet in the Crystal Palace area of London.
The toilet house, built in 1929 fell into disrepair after closing in the late 70s. Laura Jane Clark of Lamp Architects and her husband Kevin Smith spent seven years converting the abandoned pit into this modern home. We’re not sure how an underground space like this works regarding smart urban planning, though we imagine they work quite well for thermal and sound insulation. Like the Fakro, um, crack house, it does show that the unlikeliest locations can be made feasible areas to build with the right design.
Photography by Fiona Murray