Glass front is a clear winner

By Andrea Watson
Posted: 2009/04/13

ARCHITECT Charles Humphries faced a two-year planning battle with officials to transform the front of his house in north London.

The property was one of a number of homes built in 1955, 10 years after a stray bomb demolished part of a Victorian terrace in Islington.

The new houses, originally built for warders from Pentonville, formed a small terrace but that of Mr Humphries was a detached property.

Early in 2005, Mr Humphries, a director of HEAT Architecture, applied for planning permission to add an extra storey and build a dramatic new façade in glass and zinc.

Despite a progressive local planning policy encouraging "architectural innovation and imaginative design solutions", it was not a simple case.

However, the scheme eventually won on appeal. The design attempts to reconcile the vertical emphasis of traditional Victorian housing with the wide plot and horizontal nature of contemporary living spaces.

The transformation was in two stages, the first to increase the ground-floor living space by adding a kitchen extension with a vaulted zinc roof and a glass wall framed by galvanized steel facing onto a courtyard garden.

The second stage involved removing the entire roof and front wall and adding a storey to create a master bedroom with a sliding wall of glass and views over Islington.

The additional storey is constructed of steel, framed and clad in high-performance insulation with a white render.

The façade of the house was also transformed and is clad in patinated zinc. The new façade is separated from the original house by a small glazed slot. The floor-toceiling windows are made of a specialist product known as milk glass, which filters changing patterns of light into the interior throughout the day.

INFORMATION: www.heat-architecture.com