Between the Sheets

In the centre of the old city, a hidden pattern of secret alleyways is being partially restored. A new house and atelier are to be built in a bayonet, squeezed between two alleys, the Blue Sheet alley and the Black Sheet Alley. This is one of the few new developments in the historically charged Blue Sheet Block where monuments and restoration take precedence. It is a neighbourhood rich in contrasts and culture, a block with a squatters history and surprising spatial effects.

Nestled within the walls of the block, this special spot ''between the sheets'' is in a world of it’s own, where a glimpse of the church tower and the sound of birdsong becomes one’s only contact with the rest of the city.

It is a ‘backstreet’ world traditionally dressed in virgin white, allowing light and air into an otherwise narrow and dark place.

The project is steeped in contrasts, on the one hand there is a Housing Corporation who would like to see a practical, flexible, affordable and durable house built.

A simple white box with 4 facades (one being the roofgarden) each with it’s own urban story.

On the other hand there is the new tenant, a nature-loving cartoonist with a creative family who live in an old house down the same alleyway. . It is a home overflowing with art, colour, memories and collections, veiled from the outside world where light filters through from unexpected angles.. Every space in the house is filled, and every square inch of wallspace covered, the very fabric of the place exudes colour, colour, colour.

Our response to the needs of the urban situation and of the users is to create a simple white treasure chest with a veiled facade, behind which a colourful family can hide and through which they can shine.