South-east London-based practice WonKy has designed a house in the Perry Fields Conservation Area of Forest Hill. Its triangular site was a side garden to the family home of the client, who wished to downsize after her children had left.
The site was exposed, being at the meeting of two roads and with views to two locally listed buildings, so the development needed to be sensitive to its context.
The practice, joint winner of last year’s AJ Small Projects, worked with Lewisham Council’s planning department to develop a scheme that partially sunk the new two-bedroom house into the ground, while having minimal impact on the streetscape.
The client wanted her new home to be inspired by the New Alternative Nigerian Architecture (NANA) movement of Nigeria, where she is from. The movement was founded by Lagos-based architect Adeyemo Shokunbi of Patrickwaheed Design Consultancy and NANA Collective nearly five years ago. It rejects generic, steel-and-glass structures in favour of earth-based design and sustainable, culturally grounded materials as well as the repurposing of accessible, off-the-shelf industrial and local products.
The home is hidden behind a brick arch leading to concrete steps, which lead down to a below-ground entrance. Brickwork textures have been inspired by Sir John Soane’s Museum.
Externally, the buff-coloured brickwork is laid out in a double-stack bond to evoke a sense of the building being bigger than it is. The masonry has been flush-pointed in lime mortar, punctured with protruding and rotated brickwork through all four elevations.
The landscaping, meanwhile, is planted with wild meadow flowers to support biodiversity. Smooth concrete gravel boards are laid flat as walkways, and an industrial concrete manhole ring has been repurposed as a structural planter for a tree.
Throughout the single-level scheme, flooring is made from fast-growing bamboo instead of hardwood.
The home has been certified to the Passive House Institute Low Energy Building (LEB) standard, a more flexible tier designed to make high-efficiency construction more attainable than the stricter classic Passivhaus criteria.
In 2025, WonKy was among three winners of AJ Small Projects. The practice, led by Wai-Piu Wong and Lefkos Kyriacou, won for its project The Clearing, Lesness Abbey Woods, an all-weather outdoor classroom with covered dappled lighting formed of a large, reused parachute.
Architect’s view
The client wished to downsize and was inspired by the NANA movement of her native Nigeria, a movement (unknown to us) that hopes to redefine sustainable design by repurposing accessible, off-the-shelf industrial and local materials into climate-adaptive architecture. The client reached out to WonKy to design a home that would remain cool in summer, retain heat in winter, and dramatically slash utility bills during her retirement.
This playful approach to materials is most evident in the landscaping. Among the wild meadow flowers, planted to support biodiversity and pollinators, smooth concrete gravel boards have been laid flat as garden walkways, concrete hollow blocks have been filled with plants, and an industrial concrete manhole ring has been repurposed as a structural planter for a tree.
Deferential to its streetscape, the house has a bolder presence when experienced at close quarters. To enter the house, one first passes through a brick arch (the client happily refers to a Roman ruin), which leads down raw concrete steps to the front door. Sunk into the garden, it is a building that hopes to be found and unearthed. The brickwork is a precise double-stack bond, buff-colored and flush pointed in a lime mortar. There is protruding and rotated brickwork through all four elevations, echoing the brick decorations found on the nearby Victorian buildings.
We are delighted that the client considers the finished house to be a successful low-impact house. It has met her brief of touching the earth lightly, is low and subservient to the existing streetscape, but has elevated her idea of what a home can be.
Wai Piu Wong, director, WonKy
Client’s view
The New Alternative Nigerian Architecture (NANA) movement is something I was interested in, and I sought out WonKy who have a track record for being resourceful with a budget and sustainable with materials. I encouraged them to embrace this resourceful Nigerian ethos and use off-the-shelf materials wherever possible. This can be seen in the garden and in the brickwork of the house. From simple off-the-shelf materials, the house feels bespoke and very different from the other houses on the street, yet is hidden from view. It was important to us that we did not upset our neighbours with a local carbuncle.
A significant portion of the budget went into digging a large hole for the house, but we were very lucky to have found local builders, AIB Contractors, who took great care on a tight budget, in how materials were brought together such that the interior also feels unique and made around us. To keep to the budget, we kept to a simple palette for the internal fit out including, bamboo flooring, simple bathroom tiles arranged like the brickwork, an Ikea kitchen, and off the shelf ceiling joists.
Wishing to downsize and prepare for retirement, our priority was to build a sustainable, energy-efficient home. WonKy are Passive House designers, and the house will be a Passive House Low Energy Building, helping us to stay warm in winter and cool in summer and keeping running costs low.
This was the first house we have commissioned, and we enjoyed the process, learning a lot from the journey. Building in our own garden in London we feel we have a new house more suited for our future life without leaving home!
Rita Akorita, client and homeowner
West elevation brick setting out
Project data
Location Perry Rise, Forest Hill, London SE23
Start on site September 2023
Completion date November 2025
Gross internal floor area 71m²
Gross (internal + external) floor area 148m²
Form of contract or procurement route RIBA Concise Building Contract 2018
Construction cost £340,000
Construction cost per m² £4,788
Client Rita Akorita
Architect WonKy
Structural engineer KPT Design
Tree consultant Connick Tree Care
Landscape consultant Wade & Associates
Principal designer WonKy
Approved building inspector London Building Control
Main contractor AIB Contractors
CAD software used AutoCAD
Environmental performance data
Percentage of floor area with daylight factor >2% Not calculated
Percentage of floor area with daylight factor >5% Not calculated
On-site energy generation Nil (due to conservation area)
Annual mains water consumption 8 l/person/day
Airtightness at 50Pa 596 m³/h.m²
Heating and hot water load Heating: 19 kWh/m²/yr, Hot water: 15 kWh/m²/yr
Primary energy demand 62 kWh/m²/yr
Overall area-weighted U-value 12 W/m²K
Predicted design life 60+ years
Energy Performance Certificate rating on track for Passivhaus Institute Low Energy Building Standard (PHI LEB)