This recently completed family home and studio Wembury Mews by design studio Russell Jones is located in Miltons, part of the Highgate conservation area in London's Haringey district. The 200-square-metre site, accessed through a narrow passage, was formerly an old garage and the back garden of the adjoining house.

Due to its location in a protected area, surrounded by an Edwardian setting, there were many other factors that presented a challenge to the project's design, but these challenges were seen by Russell Jones as an opportunity to create a home away from family life in London. Its interior layout and architecture are a direct response to the needs and location of habitation, its personality and atmosphere derived from memory and experience, enabling it to fulfill its occupants' desire to create an escape from the outside world.

The completed 127-square-metre home, arranged on four slightly separate floors, follows the natural slope of the site. It takes the form of a series of interconnected orthogonal volumes, all rooms and Spaces organized around a 20-meter axis, starting from the front door and extending to the back boundary. The outdoor terrace and walled garden feel like an indoor room.

Back from the driveway, the front of the new home aligns with the original garage. The entrance volume includes a guest room, a two-storey secondary bedroom, circulation space and a bathroom. Just below the entrance, there is an informal living room, dining room and kitchen that opens onto a terrace and looks out onto a walled back garden. The lower ground floor studio, directly below the entrance, receives light from the front. The master bedroom and bathroom are located on the top floor, and a glass stairwell brings in light.