This House in London Explores Eco-Friendly Urban Living
What does sustainable living mean in a dense urban environment?
Sustainability and eco-friendliness are front of mind in every sector of life at the moment, and architecture is no different. Archi-Tectonics, based in New York, has been on a mission to explore what sustainable living means in a dense urban environment, with two projects in New York, and now one in London’s fashionable Primrose Hill.
The firm calls it London Solar House due to the array of PV solar panels on the roof. The original building on the site was a brick townhouse, and the project involved renovating it and adding an extension.
The townhouse serves as the base from which the extensions branch off, so the new elements feel more grounded and attached to the site and the surroundings. The extension forms an entire floor on the top of the building. The extension is made of folded zinc and glass, with the dark metal blending into the surroundings, the colour echoing the slate roofs of other houses in the area.
Due to the nonstandard shape of the extensions, there are a number of uniquely shaped apertures that have been fitted with windows and skylights to allow natural light to flood in. One large window in particular frames a large tree on the grounds of the property.
The solar panels on the expanded roof area allow the building to run almost completely off-grid, and the panels alone can power heat pumps, hot water supply, and lighting, as well as a 13-kilowatt Tesla battery for charging an electric car.
Inside, the most eye-catching upgrade is a large, central, bespoke helical staircase that vertically connects the old and new levels of the home. Glass pendants hang in the centre of the staircase, lighting the way. The walls are predominantly white plaster, with one bedroom having an exposed brick wall similar to the exterior of the townhouse.
The guiding philosophy for the architects was the principle that small is beautiful, and the explorations of small-housing options by modernists in Europe and America. Instead of focusing on frugal living, Archi-Tectonis took the idea and focused on comfort, livability, and sustainability.
