The Name Says it All: Triangle House in London
The low, single-level office building had not been used for some time. The lot was complicated: an acutely triangular remnant sandwiched between two tall factory buildings from Victorian times. These features make it all the more amazing how London’s Child Graddon Lewis studio saw the tricky situation as an opportunity to develop an exciting, bright house that plays with oblique angles, coaxes daylight in from unexpected directions and creates open areas where it would be assumed there was no space.
In order to achieve all this, the architects decided in favour of split levels and set the rear area lower than the one in front. This created a small, southeast-facing terrace just below the roof. The street side is graced by another small outdoor area, where a semi-enclosed yard screens the main entrance from the street and also offers plenty of space for bicycles.
The ground floor has an open plan with the split, which is spanned by two steps, in the middle. The kitchen faces the street; daylight falls into this room through a large glass roof extending from the façade to the wall enclosing the property. In the sunken part of the living room on the garden side, a horizontal skylight allows light to enter the house. On the first and second upper levels, there are three bedrooms, all of which feature ensuite baths. These areas are accessed via the landings on the stairway that winds its way up through the building and finally ends at the abovementioned rooftop terrace.
For their façade design, the architects took window details from the neighbouring Victorian factory buildings, from the number of window panels to the format and bond of the brickwork. The dark colour of the bricks immediately points to the fact that this residential building has a different function and comes from a different era.
However, there is a subtle hint of the history of the adjacent Victorian factory: the dentil course on the parapet of the new building. From 1840 until 1965, these buildings were the proud home of Claudius Ash & Co. − in its day, Europe’s largest manufacturer of dentures.
Child Graddon Lewis is a multi-award winning RIBA Chartered Practice based in East London with three decades of design experience.
“We design environments that allow communities to prosper. We excel in mixed-use, urban regeneration and bring our multi-sector experience to add value to proposals. We are adept at working with public organisations, private companies and local communities to support a collaborative design process – with clients ranging from the City of Westminster, Hackney Council, Be First, Greenwich Council, Hill and Countryside to Nike, Caddick, Southern Housing Group, Allied London and TfL.”
Further Information:
Project Data:
Start on site: 14th January 2019
Completion: 30th June 2020
Gross internal floor area: 117sqm
Construction cost: £298,425
CDM Co-ordinator: Child Graddon Lewis
Approved building inspector: Salus
Main contractor: PG Building Services Ltd
CAD software used: Revit
Energy Assessor: ERS Consultants Ltd
Performance Data:
Assessment Rating: C (79)
Annual CO2 emissions: 2.40 CO₂ Emissions (t/year)
Annual CO2 emissions per sqm: 117 kWh/m² per year
Total energy costs over 3 years: £1,728
U-values (W/m2K): Walls 0.28 / Roof 0.17 / Floor 0.22 (Existing Building – Extension)
EPC rating: C (79)
EI rating: C (73)
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