House with a Spiral Staircase | A-Zero Architects

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Commenced
Completed

2020

House with a Spiral Staircase

TEAM

Architect : A-Zero Architects

Giles Bruce, Shoichi Sado

Structural Design: Dan Fordham Consulting

Contractor : Ministry of Building

Photographs © Adam Scott

London, UK

This north London property was in a sorry state when we visited first. It had been extended over several phases, and what remained of the original outdoor space was small and oppressive. However, we decided to make the best of what we already had and only selectively remove some of these additions to enhance the whole.

A new courtyard, glazed on three sides with gridded steel windows forms a new outdoor space. An existing stair to a roof terrace was replaced with a new steel spiral staircase. This new outdoor space with the stair as its centre is the focus from all parts of the house, allowing horizontal and diagonal connections through the house from front to back.

Contraction rather than extension

This house had already been extended, just very badly. The decision to remove some of these previous parts, contracting the plan by removing whole rooms and floors between rooms, opened up the house to create light and visual connections throughout.

This approach allowed us to minimise the amount spent on demolition, and focus the budget on other design elements including the windows, doors and finishes.

More Projects

When the client approach us in 2022, this property was derelict and had not been occupied in 10 years - there was evidence of arson and squatting. When we first visited it was Halloween and the house had been decorated by the community as the local haunted house – which was quite apt given its dilapidated condition.

The client’s brief was for the house to be brought back into use with the lowest carbon approach possible. Design decisions were a balance was between operational performance, embodied carbon, and the aim to preserve the architectural character of the original building – it had previously been a tenement, and the very quirky split staircase to was the only remaining feature of note.

The project has completely reinvented the building as a low carbon exemplar. Unfortunately, the area now lacks a haunted house for next Halloween.

Adjacent to the Thames, this new build development is designed to capture specific views to London. The building is conceived as two parts, a lower brick base built from bricks harvested from the original building which sat on the site, and an upper cantilevered volume, which mediates between the scales of the adjacent buildings. The project references its context in form, but is distinct in the materiality of fibre cement tiles, flush glazing and integrated photovoltaic panels.

This residential development by the Thames River in Rotherhithe, has been completed, and is currently being marketed through The Modern House.

Originally part of the Thames' sprawling docklands, the area was substantially developed in the 1980s, but still retains some of the character of its maritime heritage, with remnants of the dock infrastructure scattered around the area.

This was a challenging site but one that was full of potential, with park facing views and a prominent location along Rotherhithe street. The design elevates six duplex above a ground level commercial unit. The duplex units are organised so that every unit enjoys dual aspect to the adjacent park on one side, and obliquely to the street.

The building is constructed of pre-fabricated timber cassettes clad in a combination of brick, steel and living green walls.

Rotherhithe Housing

Rotherhithe, London, UK

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