Dear architect …

This courtyard was placed smack in the centre of the site, with the kitchen and dining areas bordering it on two sides

Among the hordes of documents that needed to be created, triple checked, and duly filed during the design and build of this house, there were two little wish lists written on school stationery.

The first — perfectly double-spaced, big letters conscientiously written with a blue highlighter — begins: “Dear architect, I would like this in my new house”, followed by an impeccable show of good manners: “please if you can”.

The second one: blue-lined paper in an A6, staple-bound notebook, has been annotated with a well-sharpened pencil. Some corrections are still visible: “I win like”