Details
Location: London
Brick Manufacturers: wienerberger Limited / UK Other
Brick Names: Pure White Glaze / Perla White
Architect: Metashape Architects
Brickwork Contractor: GB Construction Supplies
About the project
Metashape Architects have designed four contemporary mews houses in north London, which are arranged along a landscaped street and feature white brick vaulted roofs.
The former garage site was purchased by Eastbank, a local developer who retained Metashape Architects for the technical design and construction stages after Planning was granted following an application by Commercial London who had a joint venture agreement with the site owner.
The studio developed two options for redevelopment and Waltham Forest Planning Department favoured the option that embraced a mews street concept and dwellings with south facing gardens.
This site layout came with its challenges being close to the windows of the neighbouring apartments and the design had to be arranged so that any potential for overlooking was avoided and the massing sculpted to meet daylight and sunlight standards.
“Designing by constraint can sometimes be detrimental to the purity of the concept, however, on this occasion it worked in the favour of the architecture and provided an opportunity to create a unique building of character,” Director Ian Liptrot
The design includes a combination of clever technical solutions, a pitched green roof and brick vaulted roofs formed from brick slips on a cementitious board and fixed to a metal frame which acts similar to a rainscreen cladding.
The walls of the building are built using a rustic white brick with white mortar, influenced by a Scandinavian technique known as ‘Sækkeskuring’ so that the surface finish is appreciated as a way of creating a more monolithic architecture, without losing the identity of each and every brick. The building corners, coping and roofs are proposed in a glazed white brick for added robustness at the edges, and to assist water run off from the roof surfaces.
The entrance hall is double height, top-lit by a large rooflight and features a gallery walkway to access the bedrooms on the first floor.
The buildings are orientated to create south facing gardens with open plan kitchen/living/dining spaces that open out onto the outdoor space. The large areas of glazing at ground floor level are protected from the south facing sun by a cantilevered over-hang at first floor that contains the bedrooms.
Metashape are a dynamic young practice formed in 2019 by two Directors with a wealth of experience in the housing sector. They are working on several exciting housing projects for private developers, housing associations and local authorities. They have offices in London and Winchester.
