Butterfly House / Oliver Leech Architects

Nestled within a small corner plot in Esher, Surrey, Butterfly House is a new compact home designed by Oliver Leech Architects to support multigenerational living. In 2018, clients Nikki and Richard Earthrowl commissioned the studio to design a future-proofed home for Nikki’s mother so that she could live within the plot of their existing family home. The brief consisted of a two-bedroom self-contained dwelling that includes space for a live-in carer, while also enabling the client’s mother to lead an independent, lightly assisted life well into the future. Set in the southern tip of the garden of the main house, the new house inhabits a small triangular corner, constrained on two sides.