The house is to be pale pink and covered in arches – some people say it looks like a mosque, others say it looks like a blancmange! It is thoroughly curvy, with scalloped balustrades and very tall arched windows in pale green frames. It takes its cue from the neo-gothic arches of the Grade 1 listed St Martin’s Church opposite, and then modernises and simplifies those arches to make them the building’s dominant decorative feature. It also takes its spirit of eccentricity from St Martin’s, which Pevsner called ‘the craziest of London’s Victorian churches’ – and the castle-like school next door, which is Grade 2 listed. 

The Cloud House is all about colour, fun and exuberance. It’s a building with its roots more in post-modernism than in the white-walled subtlety of modernism, and could potentially one day be seen as part of ‘The New London Fabulous’ movement, written about recently by Katrina Burroughs in The Sunday Times, even though that term hadn’t been coined when it was designed.

In Peter’s own words: “It is every architect’s dream to build their own home. And to be able to build something as special as this, in an amazing location in North London, so close to Hampstead Heath, is something I never imagined we’d be able to do. I’ve always been a dreamer, and like to believe that anything’s possible – so even though this building is unconventional, we’ve worked closely for years with Camden’s planning department, have shared plans with our neighbours who’ve been unbelievably kind and supportive, and we’re thrilled that it’s now being built. We hope The Cloud House will become a real landmark for the area.”