Sanya Polescuk Architects

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© Emanuelis Stasaitis

MANUFACTURERS
VMZINC, Allgood, Velfac, Ronacrete

SOLAR
So Go Solar Ltd

ENGINEER
Michael Chester & Partners

QUANTITY SURVEYOR
A J Oakes & Partners

CONTRACTOR
Amirilan Management Ltd

PHOTOGRAPHS
Emanuelis Stasaitis

EXTERNAL BUILT AREA
21 m2

INTERNAL BUILT AREA
163 m2

YEAR
2017

LOCATION
Greater London, United Kingdom

CATEGORY
Renovation, Houses Interiors

From a drafty two-bedroom mews house with ramshackle garage, SPA has created two flexible, light, airy and thermally efficient flats each with their own private outdoor space.

The client’s brief required a series of future permutations - initially to be two separate flats that can easily become interconnected for older and younger generations living together or one spacious five-bedroom house with or without an independent workshop.

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© Emanuelis Stasaitis
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© Emanuelis Stasaitis

Key to the design is the light well, punched down to the ground floor, providing light, air and separate outdoor space to both flats. Space was pushed hard to allow roomy living quarters, whilst some floor area was sacrificed to give generous double height volume.

At first floor, the minimal top-lit circulation becomes additional living space with hidden sliding compartmentation doors. The entirely new second floor overlooks the first from its study gallery.

Downstairs the original timber wall boarding and garage doors were refurbished with panels selective removed from most doors to allow more daylight into the kitchen.

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© Emanuelis Stasaitis
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© Emanuelis Stasaitis

The utilitarian purpose of the building has been alluded to with newly exposed steelwork and original internal brickwork, a new raw palette of zinc, oak, birch and matt tiles.

In contrast to the next-door mews house, which was razed to the ground, SPA retained every usable piece of building fabric to maintain both the aesthetic and the embodied energy.

The building’s energy rating was boosted by 41% to 91%; solar PV panels were installed and a variety of different insulation techniques employed to augment and upgrade according to location.

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© Emanuelis Stasaitis
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© Emanuelis Stasaitis
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© Emanuelis Stasaitis

SPA has continued to refine its attitude towards retrofitting, reclamation and upgrading of building fabric, and this project was an ideal opportunity to apply the ethos.


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Exploded Axonometric


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Section A


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Ground Floor Plan
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First Floor Plan
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Second Floor Plan

Sanya Polescuk Architects
T +44 20 74318580
Sanya Polescuk Architects
8A, Belsize Court Garages, Belsize Park, London NW3 5AJ, United Kingdom
Amanda Li Hope
T +44 7779 023112
Amanda Li Hope
Unit 2, 22 Hatton Wall, London EC1N 8JH, United Kingdom