It was a seemingly impossible design brief at first glance: the client wished to create some private amenity space to her second-floor apartment, within a 5-storey block built in the 21st century. This is a common problem confronting many apartment tenants in cities – the lack of private amenity space.

Knowing that a stand alone small balcony incongruous to the overall composition of the building would almost certainly be rejected, we adopted a bold response to add three wrap-around balconies to the client’s flats and the ones above and below, in order to create a focal point that can be read in relation to the building as a whole.

This facilitated a clear symmetry and rhythm not intended to unbalance but to enhance the overall aesthetics of the block. Two of the consented balconies had been completed thus far, and they provide ample amenity space to the tenants.