Private House, Highgate, London
By Smith Architects
A Grade II Listed Building in Highgate Conservation Area, one of the oldest villages in London, was at some point in its 300 year history, split into two dwellings.
One of these dwellings, set over four levels, on a steep site, has been rearranged over the lower two levels and extended into the very long garden. Following careful consultation with the Local Authority we proposed a simple glass extension to the rear, with a green roof floating above to form a new living room.
Defined by constraints on the site (neighbouring extensions, boundary walls, vents, sunlight and daylight, and neighbouring trees), the transparent nature of the uncompromisingly modern extension allows the historic facade to be visible from the garden, where it was once obscured by a smaller more solid extension.
The Highgate refurbishment and extension allows the lower floor to become a guest bedroom and bathroom, and the raised entrance level to be a new kitchen and dining room.
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Private House, Highgate, London
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Smith Architects is an award-winning international architectural practice creating beautiful human spaces that are unique, innovative and sustainable through creativity, refinement, and care.
Phil and Tiffany Smith established the practice in 2007. We have spent more than two decades striving to understand what makes some buildings more attractive than others, in the anticipation that it can help us design better buildings.
Recent advances in neuroscience and psychology have enabled scientists to unlock some of the reasons why we find certain works of art, objects and environments more attractive than others, and at the heart of it is simple Darwinian theory: if we find something attractive we will be more likely to choose that thing over another – be it a painting, a piece of music, a landscape or even a building.
At Smith Architects, we use these learning to inform our designs, striving to create beauty in everything we do, in the belief that beautiful spaces create better environments for human beings or ‘beautiful human spaces’.
We carefully integrates architectural, landscape, interior and furniture design skills to ensure projects achieve an holistic integrity that meets our client’s needs. At the core of our design rigour, we believe that modern, sustainable, research-based design delivers a successful project with innovative solutions that work for our clients.
Our Auckland, New Plymouth, and Arrowtown offices design and deliver projects ranging from refurbishments to new-builds; from domestic scale to urban master plans; from conception to completion. Our experience covers a broad range of typologies – masterplans, mixed-use schemes, residential; offices; cultural; educational; healthcare and childcare.
We work with a diverse client base, including developers, private, government and charities and have experience of working with multiple stakeholders on challenging sites around the world.
We are a member of the New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA), the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC), Site Safe New Zealand, and the Sustainability Business Network.
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