Much of it may have caused the safety inspectors to blanche, but they got away with it. They had worked together for 10 years already when they found this place."Philip studied interior design at Kingston Polytechnic, and his simple yet effective ideas have left an enduring imprint on the house. Concrete has been used for the stairwell, staircase and balustrade, as well as in the kitchen worktops, splashbacks and thick shelving in the sitting room. Recycling, too, is key: the panels covering the radiators came from an old telephone exchange, the floorboards from a vinegar factory. There are two bedrooms with en suite bathrooms; "Mine," says Gottschalk, "has sand and cement rendered walls and a cast concrete shower tiled in tiny white mosaics."Having the office right next door means easy access to work - and you can close the door on it at the end of the day.
"I've made sure there's enough space for a co-worker, an area for computers and printers, a shower, loo, kitchenette and an area for meetings, which I also use as an extra spare room," says Gottschalk. "The beauty of it is that it looks out over the striking cobbled courtyard."To house his collection of books, Gottschalk has built large, hidden floor-to-ceiling bookcases along the back wall of the office, which is painted in a "very beautiful blue". The walls along the courtyard side are glass, but due to the position of the building and the huge wall between the house and the next-door hospital site, it doesn't get too hot in the summer. "I have installed a fire door with portholes, painted blue to complement the cupboards, which marks the end of the house and the beginning of the office."The one question mark hanging over the house is the future fate of the deserted King's College Hospital site on its boundary. "There are plans," says Gottschalk, "to build a cottage hospital into one corner of the site adjoining East Dulwich Grove. As for the rest of the site, it's still undecided - if King's run out of money, they might sell the site to provide affordable housing, which would be a great contribution to Southwark's housing needs.
But whatever happens will take a long time, and Southwark Council is determined this place will not be wrecked by any re-development."A garage, a driveway, and a roof garden are all included in the sale. Keen developers should also note that there is planning consent to turn the garage into a structure with space for two cars and two storeys of living space."The best thing about having an office at home," says Andrew Gottschalk, "is that I can walk to work and I don't even have to put any clothes on first if I don't feel like it. It's sufficiently segregated for me to be able to turn my back on it whenever I want, and that protects my sanity.". Mamotunusi Sekgamane, 55, is a mother of five and a bead artist for the Monkeybiz, an organisation which provides women in Cape Town with the means to earn their living as beadmakers. She lives in Macassar Khayelitsha, a township near Cape Town, South Africa My home is made from a mixture of timber and corrugated iron, and it has four bedrooms and a kitchen. I have decorated the house inside and made it full of colour, using overruns from the printing of paper labels of products such as matches and tinned beef. I am very happy with the decoration of my kitchen.