The original owner had lived in Japan and was enthusiastic about Japanese architecture, gardens and planning. The home was therefore designed with all rooms opening on to individual courts via sliding doors, but used materials of the local style; concrete floors and block walls.

Ian Athfield’s first employment in an architects office, in 1957 while still at school, was with Griffiths,  Moffat  Architects. He said later they were “one  of  the  group  of architects bracketed with, but not as highly profiled, as Warren and  Mahoney  and  Peter  Beaven  Architects  of  the  late  1950s and early 1960s”

Amongst this group concrete block was the celebrated  material,  highly influenced  by  the  experience of the younger architects working in London and the work of the London County Council in housing at that time.”