Henning Stummel by Rachael Smith

HENNING STUMMEL – THE TIN HOUSE

Photographs – Rachael Smith

Words – Dominic Bradbury

Six, inter-connecting steel pods are arranged around a secret courtyard, forming a family home for architect Henning Stummel and his family. Accessed from the nearby street via a brick and steel ‘gate house’, which holds the offices of Stummel’s practice, this hidden world features a garden of giant terracotta pots and olive trees as well as a plunge pool. The house itself has a sculptural, terracotta quality, with the half dozen pods – of varying size and scale – coated in colourful steel cladding, echoing the industrial past of this former workshop site.

Within, each pod has its own particular purpose and function. At the centre of the U-shaped formation sits the main kitchen and dining area, with a pod alongside holding the sitting room, arranged around the wood burning stove and hearth. Next to this is the master suite, while across the courtyard the final two pods are arranged over two storeys, with bedrooms for the children and guests. Breaking the house up into different volumes allows everyone a degree of privacy, within their own personal spaces, yet at the same time the family can comes together in the communal pods and within the central courtyard, which forms a tempting outdoor room in itself.