Open Practice Architecture

The Coach House by @leo_kinderdesign using our Ash floor planks and stair treads for floating stairs creating a calm interior for this light filled family home #ashflooring #ashengineeredflooring #ashengineeredwood #engineeredflooring #floatingstairs

I’m excited to share that I’ll be speaking for the Developer Collective next week about what it’s like being an Architect-Developer — how it works alongside practice, the stories and events that happened along the way, and some lessons learnt. The talk is on Thursday 16 Oct 2025 6:00PM - 8:30PM at The Society Building, W1T. If you’d like to come along you can buy a ticket using the link in bio. Hope to see you there.

Last week, @openpracticearch and I opened up our home for two long days to a lovely film crew. We can’t say much about what is being filmed but there’s a design show landing stateside later this year and our home, that was once an old garage, is being featured. This was our first experience in front of the camera since we shot an episode of Grand Designs at the previous home we built (a former Gin Distillery), over five years ago. It is a great privilege to be able to talk about our work as designers and to open up our doors to the camera and crew, and share the place we call home. I can’t wait to see our home come to life on the telly in due course…! #designtv #granddesigns #homesonthetelly #openpracticearch #kinderdesign #homereno #selfbuild #architectdesigned #eastdulwich #southeastlondon #interiordesignsouthlondon

@houseandgarden had a chat with us about “what it’s really like to build your house from scratch” and @openpracticearch and I spilled the beans on all the things you need to be thinking about if you really do want to have a go building your own home. We discussed how long a project like this often takes, and how if a site doesn’t yet have planning, getting the advice of an architect, planning consultant or solicitor BEFORE you make a purchase is essential to minimise the risk. We also talked about how important it is to go and say hello to your future neighbours and tell them about your plans, particularly if you think your project might impact them, even if that feels a bit frightening. Have a read if you want to know more about the home we built for our family, and what our recommendations are for any potential self-builders out there. My brilliant husband Ru Scott @openpracticearch also specialises in helping clients that are looking to find and build a new home so do reach out if you have a project in mind. We always love sharing our experience and knowledge with people looking to do something similar. /article/what-its-really-like-to-build-your-own-house Have a great bank holiday everyone! Photo credit @ellen.christina.hancock #howtobuildahome #selfbuilders #kinderdesign #openpracticearchitecture #newbuildfamilyhome #eastdulwicharchitect #diyhomebuilder #architectdeveloper

Here are some nice shots of the outside of our home that make the Coach House look gorgeous in the sun, thanks to @ellen.christina.hancock who is an exceptionally talented photographer and very lovely person. @openpracticearch and I built the original house back in 2020-21, and it sits on two sides around a hidden courtyard. The house facade has been built using reclaimed London Stock bricks, and has large sliding windows on both sides. We built an annexe to one side of the house in 2023, and this has Iroko cladding along the top floor, to match the large Iroko door and window frames and shutters already on the main house. We wanted the annexe to sit in sympathy with the main house but also to be set apart by its use of different materials - being timber-lined on the inside and outside. Finding the right site for our home, getting planning to convert it from an old garage, and then building it has taken us nearly 8 years. And there’s still loads more that we would like to do to improve our home. So I would always say to anyone looking to build their own home (which may or may not need change of use planning permission prior to the build), is to make sure you’re prepared to be in it for the long-ish haul! #homebuild #himerenovation #diyhomebuilder #kinderdesign #openpracticearchitecture #eastdulwich #buildingproject #annexedesign #irokocladding

One thing that Ru @openpracticearch has always been brilliant at is finding clever ways to bring light down, through and into the homes that he designs. When we had the pleasure of filming Grand Designs at our last home (the Gin Distillery) Kevin McCloud famously called Ru the “master of illumination”, and I tend to agree! Beautiful and bright light is always such a tonic and we are so lucky to see so much of it throughout the many aspects of our home (not so much on a crappy dark day like today, mind). These photos are of the staircase and hallway which runs right through the middle of the Coach House. I love the view up to the white tongue and groove ceiling on the top floor, which is such a lovely detail for all the bedrooms to enjoy too. Photos by @ellen.christina.hancock and @lewisgregoryphotography #openpracticearchitecture #kinderdesign #husbandandwifeteam #coachhouseeastdulwich #microdeveloper #architectdeveloper #homerenovation #foresthill #eastdulwich #honoroakpark #southeastlondon #kevinmccloud #architecture #diyhomebuilder #londoninteriordesigner #homesweethome

A few weeks ago Home Notes asked @leo_kinderdesign and I onto their podcast to talk about our #selfbuild home project. Please do give it a listen! /episode/6Lr0p4jipelnCFwb5bmGqn?si=tYuKHPoDSaS6hWRvTcL8fQ (Link in bio too) Thank you to Amy & Jane @wearehomenotes for having us! And to @ellen.christina.hancock for the wonderful photo! #dulwichhome #selfbuildhome #architectdeveloper #diybuilder #eastdulwich #selfbuildlondon

We built the Coach House in three phases (long story), finally finishing this project last year when we completed the build of a timber-lined annexe to the side of the main house. This annexe consists of a guest bedroom and en-suite bathroom upstairs with a living room below. We knew that we wanted this annexe to feel distinct from the main house, and to use a single material - solid ash - in a simple way. And so with wood cladding the walls and floors throughout, the space feels (and smells!) quite like a Nordic cabin and the bedroom upstairs in particular feels like a lovely escape away from the rest of the house. * * * * * #openpracticearchitecture #kinderdesign #architectdeveloper #homerenovation #foresthill #eastdulwich #ashcladding #southeastlondon #selfbuildarchitect #diyhomebuilder #architectdesigned #interiordesignsoutheastlondon #londoninteriordesigner #homesweethome

Would you buy an old mechanics garage at auction without planning permission? We took the plunge and got lucky at an auction several years ago - only later realising how perfect the site would be for our own family home. It’s been a seven year adventure turning an old industrial building into our home, which now feels like a haven of peace and quiet, with clever planting of our courtyard garden by @butterrow softening the building itself. Credit also to contractors @evoke.projectslondon for delivering such a high quality build on the main house. Find out more about the highs, lows and practical challenges of creating our #homerenovation on a little podcast we made, available on Spotify now (link in bio and below). /episode/7u1RfIHMuH0aqCtplREeXn?si=1SxcfRXHTuC8dzeneF1wvg Photo by @ellen.christina.hancock #homereno #homerenopodcast #architectdeveloper #beforeandafter #interiordesign #londonlife #sustainabledesign #eastdulwich #selfbuildhome #kinderdesign #openpracticearchitecture

It’s always hard to define the moment that a project completes, but with some lovely press articles coming out in the press last month about our latest #homereno project - The Coach House - now feels like the right moment to draw an official line and announce completion. The Coach House was the second family home that we - Rupert Scott @openpracticearch and Leo Wood @leo_kinderdesign – have built together. There’s so much we have learnt and explored through this momentous journey, that we felt it might be helpful to anyone else approaching a #homerenovation or #selfbuildproject to learn from some of the practical decision making around materiality and sustainability that we’ve faced and overcome, as well as how we navigated the inevitable challenges. Learn how we turned a disused garage into our latest family home on a new mini podcast series I’ve put together dedicated to our Coach House home renovation 🏡. Available now on Spotify, link in bio and below: /show/4flExb58Jsws8ts17khhAr?si=85f54da85b634d58 #podcast #architecture #interiordesign #homerenovationpodcast #kinderdesign #openpracticearchitecture #eastdulwich #creativethinking

Say hello to the brand new wooden panelled dream house Kindred Mews! A wonderful pocket of contemporary mid-century architecture in South London with a plethora of natural light saturating the space, we’re in love... are you? Designer - @leo_kinderdesign Architect - @openpracticearch Photographer - @lewisgregoryphotography featured in the @evening.standard #dreamhome #londonhomes #midcentury #woodpaneling #locationagency

Our Coach House self-build project was featured in the Evening Standard last week, thanks to journalist @olivialidbury stopping by and finding out all about our house build project here in this corner of East Dulwich, where we have converted an old MOT garage down a hidden track into a contemporary, warm and minimal family home. /homesandproperty/interiors/mot-garage-house-conversion-east-dulwich-honor-oak-b1183221.html This article does, I think, a good job of explaining the long journey that my architect husband Ru Scott @openpracticearch and I have been on with this project for the last seven years. Now that the works are finished and we can just enjoy living here, without our home being a building site with an endless to do list. We are now hatching plans for our next development project. And wearing our hats as interior designer and architect we are also keen to hear from anyone else who is undertaking their own self-build project, as we know that it’s no mean feat building your own home and help and advice is sometimes needed! Many thanks to lots of people including @olivialidbury @evening.standard @salt_press @butterrow for helping us to create a beautiful garden and @holte.studio for helping us with our kitchen design and install I look forward to sharing more photos by @lewisgregoryphotography of our Coach House project in the coming weeks.