Copperclad Townhouse
Client: Private
Location: Highgate
Cost: £100,000
Status: Complete
Category: Interiors, Homes
Photographs: Peter Landers
Our clients approached us to rework the ground floor of their townhouse and remove an ageing and draughty conservatory. While the front reception room worked well, a cramped kitchen was insufficient for their growing kitchen. Replacing the conservatory with a new dining room opening directly onto the kitchen freed up the interior to create a larger family room. Triple sliding doors open the new kitchen and dining areas onto the extensive garden.
The brief also required that we provide a new downstairs WC. The clients also wanted to maintain a direct access to the kitchen from the front door, in order to avoid having to bring shopping through the reception rooms. This new access allowed us to conceal a WC below the staircase, a utility space and cloakroom cupboard, and a small concealed study opening on to the reception rooms.
We wanted the extension to respond to the palette of the existing building which had striking redbrick details. As the new construction was a highly insulated timber frame, maximising thermal performance without compromising the internal space, we used a bright copper cladding as a final finish. The standing-seam cladding creates a rhythm across the large window openings and continues down over a garden log store. A wildflower roof sits behind the parapet providing visual interest from the upstairs rooms and replaces lost biodiversity.