Project

This street is now home to one of the first contemporary houses to be built alongside the popular Victorian architecture of Islington. Originally constructed after the war for a Pentonville prison officer, this detached house was virtually rebuilt after a successful groundbreaking planning appeal with a new top floor and a zinc clad extension at the front.

The house incorporates solar water heating and heat recovery, underfloor heating, recycled materials and high thermal mass to achieve a low carbon footprint.

Planning permission was applied to transform the house with the addition of an extra storey and a dramatic new street façade in milk glass, zinc and galvanized steel.

“The transformation was carried out in two stages; the first stage was to open up the ground floor living space with the addition of a kitchen extension with a vaulted zinc roof and a glass wall facing onto an immaculate courtyard garden. The framing for the glass is galvanized steel. The second stage was to remove the entire roof and front wall, which was built up and out towards the street, creating a large master bedroom with a sliding wall of glass onto a south facing roof terrace. The additional storey is steel-framed and clad in high performance insulation with a pure white render. The windows which form an integral part of the design are steel W20 with high performance glass and a tough galvanized finish which has been powder coated. At the front, the street façade is clad in beautiful patented zinc that picks up the render-bands on local houses and is separated from the original house by a glazed slot. The floor-to-ceiling windows are in high-performance milk glass, which allows changing patterns of light into the interior throughout the day. This was made possible by a structural frame of exposed galvanized steel channels.”