The most unusual penthouse in London: House on a Hill (Smart’s Place)

 Covent Garden, London, UK

Architecture and Interior Design: David Kohn Architects

Photography © Will Pryce

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With careful structural adjustments and fire engineering, a new house was placed on top of a C19th warehouse north of Covent Garden. A stepped section creates multiple planted terraces with every room having a unique relationship to the views across the capital.

Rather than treating the project as an extension of the brick block below, the studio imagined the roof as a new ground plane, using familiar elements of residential architecture such as bay windows. Occupying a previously unused rooftop, the scheme is ultra-low carbon and follows the Mayor’s policy to build new homes on London’s rooftops.

David Kohn: “With an almost 180 degree panoramic view across central London, the possibilities for framing and enjoying the city were many. An early decision was to orient and shape each room to suit its particular aspect and to find pleasure in the variety this created. With a stepped section and generous terraces intended for planting, we imagined building the miniature Hanging Gardens of London.”

The ‘House on the Hill’ (Smart’s Place) project has won the @RIBA London Award.

Jury chair, Amir Sanei: “The design turns constraint into opportunity. Rights to light, planning limitations, and structural challenges are not obstacles but generative forces, shaping a building that is both inventive and contextually attuned...The result is an architecture that feels at once improvised and precise, theatrical yet grounded. Smart’s Place stands as a compelling example of how contemporary living can be inserted into the historic city with imagination and care.”