“The Lighthouse”, North London – Autumn 2023

We were commissioned in 2022 to complete a full renovation of a 1930s property, which was in an excellent location but lacked charm. The property was a fully detached house with a lack on insulation, which enjoyed a long garden space to the rear.

The brief was to create a new kitchen and living space at ground floor level, which was to have a profiled roof form and plentiful natural lighting. At the top of the house, a new master bedroom was to be formed in what was presently an unheated attic space. Aside from the first floor, which had some well proportioned bedrooms, the house was to be entirely re-modelled.

The property has received an entirely new high performing thermal envelope. Triple glazed timber windows replace UPVC sashes. A fully insulated rendered wall system covers what was originally a cracking render and pebbledash façade. The roof was completely rebuilt with a new warm roof system with high performance insulation, and received new large triple glazed fully openable windows.

Our clients wanted something warm and contemporary, but liveable. We used a palette of natural oak, marble and colour that was informed by the veins in the natural stone. The roof volume is described in two large angular forms that suck in light and draw out heat.  A raised terrace divides the kitchen from the garden, which sits just over half a metre up from the level of the grass.