Words Luke Crisell

Photography James Tarry

“By the time I had requested to view it, it had gone,” Darren says today, over a particularly good cup of coffee in his front room. (Darren works part-time as the creative director for coffee brand WatchHouse). “Then, after I had been looking [for flats] every single day for eight months, it was back. So I pounced.”

Future dream flat secured, Darren asked his friend Benni Allan, director of the architecture practice EBBA, to come and take a look at the space. “I had big ideas for the place, but I didn’t know how to actualize them,” Darren says. “Benni’s brain just unlocked something totally different and unexpected.”

Now fully realised, the apartment is a testament both to Benni’s architectural dexterity and Darren’s refined creative sensibility. (Darren documents the many angles of his home on his Instagram, where a following of over 60,000 has led to collaborations with brands including Tylko, Temple Cycles, Salomon, and Muuto.) With unnecessary walls removed, light floods through the home from both sides, bookending the interiors with green views. Storage has been found in improbable places, leaving plenty of space for Darren’s carefully curated collection of objects. As this carefully-honed sanctuary comes to market, he and Benni share the story of its evolution.

Darren Rowlands: “I have always been obsessed with New York stoops. One reason why I chose Hackney, and specifically London Fields, is that I’d spent some time in this area and I’d seen a lot of the roads had stoops. What New York doesn’t really have, though, is bay windows, which I also wanted. I just think there’s something so beautiful about them. I didn’t think I’d be able to afford a place with a stoop and a bay window. But then I started searching for one-beds and realised that maybe it was possible after all. Once I’d found the flat, I asked Benni: ‘Can you come and look at it? It’s not very big, but can we do something interesting?’”

Benni Allan: “And I think that’s probably where we add the most value: trying to do the most with a space. I’ve always liked these types of terraced houses. What’s amazing about them, for me, is that they constantly change over the years. Just think about how old they are!

“Although the rooms here are generous with tall ceilings, they initially felt quite pokey and enclosed. The first thing we decided to do was to connect the whole flat. I think it’s really important that flats have a double aspect. You don’t really get a generosity in space when you only have one view out. And what’s amazing is, by taking out that wall, you actually view the garden through two different rooms.”

Darren: “I just fell in love with the view out the back. And there’s the light as well. It’s east facing, so when you wake up, the sun comes through the window, and it’s pretty incredible.”

Benni: “In most flats, the hall ends up being a bit of a wasted room: it’s cluttered, people just dump stuff there. There’s something nice about that becoming actually a room in itself. I’m particularly interested in different types of materials, how you can use them to create an effect within a home. And that idea of bringing the tile – which I always love, because it feels almost civic – from inside the bathroom out into the hall and through to the kitchen suddenly connects the spaces, and makes them feel bigger. Every time I come here, I’m surprised about how big it actually feels.”

“I’ve always been drawn to what happen on the side of architecture. I do a lot of work in fashion and art, and I think that’s where our interests align, because we’re both interested in culture and music. Working as an architect, you have to deal with so many different types of clients. I enjoy working with creatives because they can see the potential in a project. You don’t even need to produce drawings: they understand what materials will come together nicely. People with a similar mindset can not only project an image of what it will be like, they can also put their own stamp on it.”

Darren: “With some elements I just thought, ‘Is there a little something that I can add to make it my own?’ I wanted the space to reflect my personality, and the things I’m into: music, coffee, design – things like that.”

Benni: “When it comes to colors, at EBBA we use them in a very selective way. Darren wanted to bring a bit more personality, and was quite interested in combining colours. I wouldn’t say the blue is something that we would have chosen. But actually, when I saw it, I thought ‘That’s a really, really nice combination of colours.’”

Darren: “I went for a walk on Wilton Way one day to get a morning coffee, and there’s a side door on a Victorian house, similar to this, that’s the blue colour, and it’s got similar terracotta tiles on the steps. That was where I got the inspiration for the color palette.”

Benni: “You have to try and translate what a client wants into a design that’s going to be true to them. I talk about an openness in architecture and flexibility in how you might use a space. The work that we do is about creating building spaces, and interiors, that don’t prescribe just one way of using them. And I think particularly in small homes, you need to allow for that flexibility.”

“It’s also important to create a really strong background for the kind of life the client leads. That’s where Darren’s aesthetic and his way of living come in. What’s amazing about the space is that it’s used in so many different ways: for shooting and relaxing. But alongside flexibility, it still needs to feel really enjoyable and comforting. A home to me is somewhere that feels safe and calming. It’s a place to reset, to hide away from the world and to recharge. Somewhere to make your own and to bring out your own character.”