This clever Camden house renovation brings light, space and zen
EBBA architects’ Camden house renovation and double-height extension transform life in a London terraced home
This Camden house renovation by EBBA architects transforms a traditional north London terraced property, creating light and space for contemporary living, thanks to a dramatic but sensitively designed double-height extension.
Tour EBBA’s Camden house renovation
The home had been unmodernised since the clients moved in 15 years previously, and the living space was fragmented, with limited views of the garden. The architects, ‘concentrated on connecting the different pockets of space in the house to create a more cohesive living area, while opening up the rear of the building to embrace the available natural light’, state the team.
They also created a new home office space that links to the garden, in a further nod to contemporary functionality.
The full-width, double-height rear extension takes its inspiration from the metalwork of balconies common to the local vernacular, Victorian housing stock. The new addition – slotting in neatly between two existing structures – connects two levels of the interior, flooding the house with light, and provides an ever-present link to the outdoors. Large glazed doors open onto a brick-lined terrace and the leafy garden beyond.
Inside, bespoke joinery brings a sense of warmth, craft and continuity throughout the interior, from a vast kitchen island to custom-created bedroom furniture pieces. With sustainable architecture principles in mind, the extensive use of timber combines with off-white clay floor tiles and limestone accents for a ‘quiet, sustainable material palette’, note the architects.
In the master ensuite, a Japanese-style wooden tub adds to the general sense of zen, along with softly textured clay walls.
EBBA – whose portfolio spans from residential design to exhibitions, set design, retail and education projects – prides itself on ‘making spaces that reflect particular poetic and material qualities that can carry meaning and can have a direct emotional effect on the users’, state the architects. This renovation exudes a sense of subtlety and understatement, while dramatically enhancing the living space and connection to the outdoors of a traditional London terrace.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
On the Wallpaper* staff since 2004, Bridget Downing worked first as production editor and then chief sub editor on the print magazine. Executive editor since 2017, she turned to digital content-editing in 2021 and works with fellow editors to ensure smooth production on Wallpaper.com. With a BA in French with African and Asian Studies, she began her career in the editorial research library at Reader’s Digest’s UK edition, and has also worked at women’s titles. She is the author of the (2007) first editions of the Las Vegas and Cape Town Wallpaper* City Guides.
-
Discothèque perfumes evoke the scent of Tokyo in the year 2000
As Discothèque gets ready to launch its first perfume collection, Mary Cleary catches up with the brand’s founders
By Mary Cleary Published
-
This unassuming London house is a radical rethinking of the suburban home
Station Lodge by architect Andrei Saltykov in South West London offers a radical subversion to regional residential architecture
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Explore 100 years of Svenskt Tenn and the interiors Estrid Ericson has crafted
‘A Philosophy of Home’ explores 100 years of Svenskt Tenn and the daring vision for interiors its founder Estrid Ericson developed
By Diana Budds Published
-
This unassuming London house is a radical rethinking of the suburban home
Station Lodge by architect Andrei Saltykov in South West London offers a radical subversion to regional residential architecture
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Join our tour of London Zoo, its modernist architecture and more
London Zoo is a well-established magnet for younger visitors, but there's plenty for the architecture enthusiast to admire too; our tour explores its modernist treasures for guests of all ages
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Load into this reimagined Fortnite cityscape, courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects
A collaboration between Epic Games and ZHA, Re:Imagine London brings the architects’ modular forms into one of the world’s most popular multiplayer games
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Elemental House adds a Danish twist to a 1970s London house
Archmongers' Elemental House transforms a 1970s terraced house in London's Hackney into a functional, light-filled, Scandinavian-inspired family home
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
East London's disused gasholders are being reinvented
Regent's View by RSHP reinvents a pair of disused gasholders in east London as contemporary residential space and a publically accessible park
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
The 2024 RIBA Reinvention Award, Muyiwa Oki, and making reuse ‘more special than ever’
The shortlist for the 2024 RIBA Reinvention Award has been announced today; we caught up with the institute’s president Muyiwa Oki to discuss the honour
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Meticulously detailed London mews house unveiled by Ampuero Yutronic
Market Mews, a London mews house, is a hymn to modern minimalism, executed with precision and skill to make the most of a tight site in the heart of the capital
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
What to visit during London Open House 2024? We asked the experts
Lost in choice? London Open House 2024 is as exciting as it is expansive. We asked some of our friends, all experts in their architectural field, for their tips on what to visit at this year's event
By Ellie Stathaki Published