建筑通常始于理解和应对特定任务和场地的种种限制。该项目也同样如此：一栋位于汉普斯特德的维多利亚式建筑，需要进行重新配置和扩建，然而其介于汉普斯特德高街和Bird in Hand Yard的突出位置为空间带来了很大的限制。

Architecture often begins with understanding and embracing the constraints of a particular brief and site. This proved especially true for the reconfiguration and extension of an existing building in Hampstead, where – given its prominent yet nestled position between Hampstead High Street and Bird in Hand Yard – space was considerably confined.

▼建筑和周边环境 The Bird in Hand, nested within the Hampstead Village setting © Julian Abrams

▼从Bird in Hand Yard望向建筑的背立面 rear elevation view from Bird in Hand Yard © Julian Abrams

Bird in Hand原本是汉普斯特德当地的一家饮品店，后来于80年代初期转让给The Dome咖啡馆，后来又变成Cafe Rouge。五层高的建筑包含两套狭小的顶层公寓，需要从建筑后方的户外逃生楼梯进入。经过翻新和扩建之后，原来的公寓均变成了两居室住宅，建筑二层用作办公室，首层和地下一层成为了灵活的商业和餐厅空间。

The Bird in Hand, once a local watering hole of Hampstead until it changed hands to The Dome cafe in the early 80’s and later Cafe Rouge, is a five- storey Victorian structure, which included two cramped flats to the upper floors, accessed via an external escape stair to the rear. It has been refurbished and extended to create two two-bedroom flats to the upper floors, offices to the first floor and flexible retail / restaurant spaces to the ground and basement floors.

▼轴测图：后方扩建空间和周围环境 axonometric of final scheme showing the rear extension development in the Bird in Hand Yard context

▼改造前后的立面对比，existing Café Rouge front elevation condition & completed front elevation © Julian Abrams