![The Chapel by Craftworks in south London, England](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2019/01/craftworks-john-smart-the-chapel-london-house-residential-conversion-architecture-_dezeen_2364_hero1-852x479.jpg)
Craftworks inserts home with faceted modern gothic roof into abandoned chapel
Craftworks has added a vaulted ceiling and lower ground floor to a derelict chapel to create this south London house, which is the winner of the 2019 Don't Move, Improve! award.
A simple pitched roof with triangular skylights gives a subtle hint of the dramatic structure now inside the shell of this converted chapel in south London. The home, named The Chapel, has a modern gothic vault reminiscent of the churches of German architect Gottfried Böhm.
![The Chapel by Craftworks in south London, England](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2019/01/craftworks-john-smart-the-chapel-london-house-residential-conversion-architecture-_dezeen_2364_col_5-852x1185.jpg)
Southwark-based architecture studio Craftworks (formerly John Smart Architects) took their cues from religious architecture when transforming the long-abandoned structure – part of the former Old St John's convent site – into a new home.
"The unhallowed status became the protagonist for architectural intervention," said Craftworks. "Axis, narthex, fan vault, nave and crossing were recast with similar dwelling archetypes."
![The Chapel by Craftworks in south London, England](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2019/01/craftworks-john-smart-the-chapel-london-house-residential-conversion-architecture-_dezeen_2364_col_4-852x863.jpg)
Overlooked on all sides, and with strong local opinion on how the chapel should be retained and used, a balance was struck by retaining the outer structure and digging out a new lower ground floor.
"The programme for a family house needed to surgically dovetail into the existing shell, whilst allowing creative freedom within an internal transfiguration," explained the architecture studio.
![The Chapel by Craftworks in south London, England](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2019/01/craftworks-john-smart-the-chapel-london-house-residential-conversion-architecture-_dezeen_2364_sq1-852x852.jpg)
Four bedrooms, bathrooms and a study sit on the new lower ground floor, while the original space has been entirely given over to an open-plan dining and kitchen area, flooded with light from the skylights and a series of thin arched windows.
A dark wood-clad staircase leads up from the lower ground floor, with the spaces representing the divide between "day and night, heaven and earth", according to Craftworks.
![The Chapel by Craftworks in south London, England](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2019/01/craftworks-john-smart-the-chapel-london-house-residential-conversion-architecture-_dezeen_2364_col_12-852x693.jpg)
On the ground floor, further reference has been made to religious forms, here reinvented for the activities of cooking, eating and studying.
A fireplace has been inserted as though it were an altar and opposite an angular, wood-clad pulpit hides a bathroom, above which sits a small mezzanine occupied by a private study.
![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2019/01/craftworks-john-smart-the-chapel-london-house-residential-conversion-architecture-_dezeen_2364_col_0-852x935.jpg)
The entirety of the inner volume is a "pearly shell" of waxed lime plaster, chosen to contrast the exterior of reclaimed bricks and slate roof tiles.
Around the house, a landscaped garden designed by Jane Brockbank Gardens creates a "hidden sanctuary", continuing the faceted forms of the roof with criss-crossing weathered steel borders.
Craftworks have previously worked on the same site, converting one of the adjacent convent buildings into four homes.
Photography is by Edmund Sumner.
Project credits:
Architect: Craftworks
Contractor: Land Edition
Structural engineer: Cooper Associates
Landscape planting design: Jane Brockbank Gardens