Peckham terrace rebuilt around daylight by its architect owner

London architecture studio Polysmiths has renovated Pine House, a terraced home in Peckham in south London, around daylight itself. Founder Charles Wu said light was treated as the primary material for the design. The scheme was published on 25 September 2026 Dezeen.

The main structural change sits at the centre of the plan. The team removed the middle floor above the rear outrigger, the small back extension found on many Victorian terraces, to create a double-height void, an open space that rises through two floors. Daylight drops through it. Views open between levels.

The ground floor now runs on one clear axis. It starts in the front reception room with its bay window and ends in a glazed garden room shaded by timber slats. Lime-plastered brickwork, timber boards and cork panels line the route between them. Each surface catches changing light in a different way.

Timber lines most of the living spaces. The main rooms are finished in solid Radiata Pine boards, a pale plantation-grown softwood, while the garden room turns dark with expanded cork boards. Upstairs, four bedrooms and two bathrooms are arranged across the first and second floors.

What makes this stand out is the restraint. Morning light sharpens the white plaster. Afternoon sun softens the pine to gold. Then the cork room closes the day in cool shadow.

The practice describes Pine House as the own home of Wu and as a live-work laboratory made from a Victorian terrace in Peckham Rye. On its website, the studio calls it a low-carbon self-build, where the owner directly organises design and construction, delivered on time and on budget Polysmiths.

Polysmiths also calls the house a 1:1 prototype, a full-size working test rather than a model, centred on a double-height kitchen and living room. The studio traces the building to a 200-year-old terrace in Peckham. That history explains the narrow footprint, the tall rear extension and the need to pull light into the middle.

Polysmiths is a London-based practice founded by Wu. It says its mission is building a sense of belonging and lists work across homes, hospitality, cultural and public realm projects. It names Cork House and Pine House as self-build laboratory projects, and says client work typically ranges from £300k to £1M+.