The Elizabeth Mews project comprises of a garage conversion and ground floor refurbishment of a courtyard house on a quiet cobbled mews in Primrose Hill, North London. The Client's brief entailed the conversion of the under-utilised and uninsulated garage at the front of the property in order to provide much-needed habitable space for her young family to live laterally across one level. This opening up of the floorplan and street facing frontage presented the opportunity to meaningfully improve on the interior's daylight, cross-ventilation and outlook. Elizabeth Mews falls within the Belsize Park Conservation Area which means that any proposed street-facing alterations needed to be carefully considered so as to not harm the existing character of the mews. The garage door was reimagined as an oak finned insert, which was developed to reconcile the competing considerations of admitting daylight and ventilation into the home whilst providing privacy screening and solar shading. When viewed from the gateway to the mews, the flutter of fins retain an impression of solidity which unravels like turning pages on approach. Internally, the ground floor plan is re-organised on its front-back axis along a 9m long galley kitchen spanning the full depth of the property. Towards the rear, the kitchen expands into a dining area, before contracting into a small snug seating area beyond. The linear plan form and opening of the street frontage enables dual-aspect daylighting and cross ventilation from both the street at the front and an existing sheltered courtyard to the rear. A central dividing wall helps structure the space whilst providing tall storage and screening to the entrance hall, WC and staircase. A minimalist spirit runs through a calm, contemplative interior defined by tonal and textural nuances that help the space to read as a uniform whole. Central to this is a specialist Danish plaster, which unifies walls and ceiling with a fabric-like surface suggesting undefined textiles. A cloudy white Mugla marble worktop stretches along the full depth of the property linking street to courtyard. Colour is used sparingly, but with precision. The rosy warmth of the Douglas Fir planks is complimented by the brushed copper accents, the mottled burgundy leaves of the Acer Palmatum Fireglow and rose quartz cushions to the snug. A minimal frame pivot door is carefully detailed from floor to ceiling, enabling an unencumbered transition between interior and courtyard. This toplit chamber serves as a lightwell drawing in daylight to the rear of the property. The external space is loosely structured by a pair of simple geometric forms: a planar bench and cylindrical pot. The bespoke pot is handmade from Ecocrete in a bone white finish with lightly brushed strata and topped with white limestone chippings. The combination harmonises with the large format concrete tiles lining the floor and natural clay plaster adorning the walls. The project won the 'Transformation Prize' in the NLA's Don't Move Improve! Awards 2023. The Don’t Move, Improve! Awards celebrate the best and most innovative homes being designed around London, and 'The Transformation Prize' is awarded to the project that has gone through significant transformation or retrofit from an unhabitable dwelling to a liveable home, using as much of the existing foundations as possible.