The rise of the upside-down house

When the architect Andy Ramus was working with the owners of what would become Creek House, an eye-catching modern home that overlooks Bosham estuary in West Sussex, he took the unusual step of building a scaffolding tower in the garden. “The owners looked at the view from ground level, then they climbed the three-metre tower and took in the view from there,” says Ramus, founder of AR Design Studio in Winchester. “They immediately saw what a difference it would make to build an upside-down house. The view is one of the best I have ever seen, but you couldn’t see it from the ground floor. Designing the main living and dining area on the first floor was a no-brainer. It enabled them to maximise the view they paid for.”

The past few years have seen an increase in “upside-down” houses – homes in which the main living, dining and kitchen space is on the first floor, with bedrooms at ground level – as our architecture and design ambitions have become bolder. “If you have the right site, the benefits are obvious – an amazing view, lots more light in the main living space, and better ventilation,” says Ramus. “In an urban environment, the plot can feel wider, less hemmed in. It also gives you the opportunity to do something dramatic with the interiors. In Creek House, we have a double-height space with an enormous roof light, so when you enter you look up and see the sky. It has real wow factor.”

For Jon Taylor, whose second home is a converted boathouse in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, the view from on high meant that having the open-plan living room and kitchen/bar on the first floor was the only option worth considering. “You can see the entire Henley Royal Regatta course from here,” he says. “And we have bifold doors that lead out to a balcony, so it feels like the entire space has been opened up to the river. Plus, we get the benefit of the vaulted ceiling with its exposed beams, which makes it a dramatic space.”

The abundance of light on the first floor allows for “a much deeper colour palette, which works excellently day to night”, says Tiffany Duggan, director of Studio Duggan, which created the interiors of the boathouse. “We were able to go with a deep blue/dark green colour scheme loosely based on Monet’s The Water-Lily Pond, which was a favourite of the client.”

Despite its obvious advantages, an upside-down house is not for everyone, says Ramus. “It wouldn’t be my first choice unless the site demanded it. Having your main living area upstairs results in you losing that connection with the garden. Not only is it good for the soul to be connected to nature, being able to slide open doors for that inside/outside space makes a big difference. You can get around that to some degree with terraces and balconies, but it’s not quite the same. An upside-down house suits those who, perhaps, don’t want a large garden.”

Taylor has young children and finds that they are happy to go up and down stairs to access outside space – although the boathouse is a second home, so the demands upon it are less intense. When entertaining in the garden, the family use a small downstairs kitchen equipped with a fridge and sink. That, says Ramus, is a smart solution: “I always make sure there is a lounge and big utility downstairs with a secondary kitchenette, so the outside entertaining area is connected to an indoor lounge and serviced by a small kitchen.”

Ground-floor bedrooms also throw up the issue of privacy. “Private bedroom areas are much more open to visitors’ eyes, not just from the outside, but also from the entrance hall, so careful thought needs to be given to the layout and bed positioning,” says Duggan. “At the boathouse, a large pair of double doors leads to the master bedroom, allowing light from the back of the house to wash the entrance hall when it’s only family at home. When the doors are closed for guests, dramatic lighting creates an altogether different feel.”

“A lot of people like to go upstairs to bed – it’s a gut instinct,” says Ramus. “And security is another issue, but today you have windows and sliding doors that can be locked open at 100mm, which allows ventilation but is not wide enough for anyone to fit through. Another way around this is to have the guest rooms on the ground floor, but the master bedroom on the first – this is what I did at Creek House, and the result beautifully fits the lifestyle of its owners as well as the surroundings.”

AR Design Studio
Studio Duggan

Pictures from top: Creek House, by AR Design Studio, overlooking Bosham estuary; the open-plan living area, with views out over the water; inside 4 Views in Winchester, by AR Design Studio; and AR’s Folding House, beside the River Avon