Fresh from his appearance on The Modern House podcast, architectural designer Jonathan Tuckey is opening the doors to his family home in north-west London – watch the film here.

Tuckey acquired the former steel fabricator, dating back to the 19th-century and positioned “on an arterial, anonymous London street” in Queen’s Park, over 25 years ago. At that time, little about the building resembled a place in which to raise young children, as Tuckey and his wife, Annabel, would soon be doing. And so the pair embarked on reimagining the spaces for domestic family life, simultaneously embracing the heritage of the site while installing sensitive architectural moves that permit modern inhabitation – the trademark move of Tuckey’s practice.

One of those key moves was the incorporation of a courtyard garden, around which the original shed (now home to the main living spaces and kitchen) and the new wing, containing the bedrooms, are arranged. “The courtyard house was always inspiring, says Tuckey, “Bringing a garden into the middle of the house was going to enrich our lives, bring some degree of civility to the view from the kitchen, the view from the table, but equally the view from our bedrooms.” The effect, as seen in the film, is a quiet, meditative anchor point to the house, one in which the passing seasons are observed, herbs are grown, and an outdoor bath provides a place of rest and reprieve.

But it’s not just the bath that creates an atmosphere that’s an antidote for the busy street just beyond the front door. As Tuckey explains, it was his intention that the house provide a connection to the “elemental aspects of life”, one in which the rituals of bathing, cooking, eating and relaxing around a fire, for example, informed the design. As such, Tuckey’s intervention is one in which different proportioned spaces accommodate different moods and occasions; sensual stimulation is engendered by the play of light and dark and, as he puts it, the house “provides a framework for living, rather than being too perspective.”

Find out how the house has dealt with 20 years of family life, evolving and adapting all the while, here. And don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel where you can step into the homes of Ruth and Richard Rogers, Deyan Sudjic, Roger Zogolovitch and many more.