Red Steel and Brick Enliven a ’70s Rowhouse Renovation in London

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Project Details:

Location: London, United Kingdom

Architect: Archmongers / @archmongers

Footprint: 1,300 square feet

Builder: Millimetre Interiors LTD

Structural Engineer: Fosters Structures

Photographer: Jim Stephenson / @clickclickjim

Photographer: French + Tye / @frenchandtye

From the Architect: "Johan Hybschmann, director at Archmongers, and his wife, Anita Freeman, have remodeled their London home, a 1970s split-level in Hackney. The renovation has future-proofed the house for modern living, enhancing the home’s energy efficiency whilst bringing natural light deep into the plan. Archmongers’s approach is underpinned by a commitment to honest, exposed materials and traditional wood joinery. The design scheme employs a palette of existing materials including brick, galvanized steel, cast concrete, and timber.

"Untouched since the ’70s, the house retains its original structural integrity, featuring robust masonry, timber framework, and exposed concrete elements. The original layout was compromised by the ground-floor garage, resulting in an awkward entrance, a compressed kitchen/dining area, and excessive storage space, with rooms addressing the rear garden and little daylight connection to the street.

"By extending the ground floor and converting the garage, each space has been made more generous. A new concrete extension, cast in-situ at the rear of the property, opens up the house laterally, creating a more generous kitchen and dining space at lower level. The insulated slab provides thermal insulation to the house and creates a new garden terrace, which acts as part of the structural foundation and helps spread the load of the existing and new facades. The flat roof of the extension creates a green roof at first floor level.

"The new scheme unlocks the three floors to make the house feel more spatially vertical. Plasterboard walls have been removed to reveal the logic of the house’s structure and make all of its elements legible. The underside of the stairs is exposed to create spatial clarity. Strategically placed internal windows reveal sight lines and flood the interior with natural light. The rear elevation has been opened up with sliding doors at ground level, and a new expansive window at first floor level offers views across the new green roof from the living room.

"The house is inspired by northern European Modernism, with direct references including buildings in Hybschmann’s native Denmark, specifically Wohlert’s Louisiana Museum ofModern Art, Finn Juhl’s house in Ordrup, Arne Jacobsen’s Søholm houses, and Alvar Aalto’s homes in Finland.

"The interior is characterized by a harmonizing palette of gray brick, white-washed walls, and naturally finished timber, accented by pops of red in the exposed steel beams, columns, and handrails, which is complemented by the terra-cotta tiles of the lower floor. Repeated rectilinear motifs appear throughout in the arrangement of elemental materials, achieving a unified interior.

"The rear garden and wildflower green roof have been planted with indigenous species, and a new, small pond encourages wildlife. The planting scheme has been designed by Johan’s partner Anita to boost biodiversity within the site’s limited footprint."