Apartment Block — dining room
Whole House · 2020

Apartment Block

Clerkenwell, EC1

A two-storey Clerkenwell flat rebuilt around 30,000 hand-cut oak blocks, three-metre sash windows and linen-lined shutters that hold the south light.

Location
Clerkenwell, EC1
Year
2020
Type
Whole house · flat
Status
Complete · RIBA London Award
The brief

A flat rebuilt in oak.

The starting point was a dark, awkwardly laid-out flat over two floors of a Victorian building, with a few original features hidden under later work. The clients wanted to keep what was there and rebuild around it.

The plan was reworked to put the kitchen and a convertible dining room under a new mezzanine, with sliding pocket doors that let the rooms run together or close down. The original three-metre sash windows were brought back into use and given new shutters lined with translucent linen, so the south light reads as soft surface.

The floor is 30,000-plus hand-cut blocks of European oak, laid through the living and circulation areas. Where the original glazed green bricks survived, we kept them — the new oak and the old brick carry most of the room together.

Winner of the RIBA London Award and the NLA Don't Move, Improve Award, 2020.

Materials & makers

What it's made of.

Floor
30,000+ hand-cut European oak blocks
Walls
Original glazed green bricks, retained
Windows
Three-metre original sash, restored
Shutters
Translucent linen-lined, bespoke
Doors
Sliding pocket doors between rooms
Arch Study, Notting Hill
← Previous
05 / 20
Arch Study
Canyon House, Clerkenwell — kitchen and living
Next →
07 / 20
Canyon House

Tell us about your house.

Get in touch  →