Swain’s Lane, Highgate
| Client Architect Image Credits |
Private Eldridge London and Smerin Architects Lyndon Douglas |
Awards | RIBA Award The Manser Medal Nomination Stephen Lawrence Prize Finalist RIBA London Building of the Year Finalist |
Swain’s Lane is a new house that overlooks Highgate Cemetery in north London. The building is set over four floors with a generous proportion of living to bedroom space including balconies, terraces and a sliding glass rooflight which enables the top floor to become an open-air court.
The house has two distinct facades: the side facing the cemetery is mostly glazed, while the street-facing elevation is fabricated from black granite, translucent glass and black steel panels. The roof features a large rooflight; glass floor panels emit light to the lower floors. In contrast, the elevations facing the cemetery are largely glazed, suffusing the interior with natural light and washing the fair-faced concrete structural frame and walls with sunlight.
We provided all mechanical, electrical and sustainability services for the project. The use of a concrete frame provides a sustainable environmental strategy for the house, which produces a lower energy usage than the original, even with an increased floor area. The slow heat response characteristics of the concrete allows the frame to act as an environmental modifier, slowing down heat gain in summer and limits heat loss in winter. The form of the house with its large south facing glazed openings, allow passive solar gain to be maximised during winter months.
The use of stone cladding and a green sedum roof system similarly help control temperature fluctuations. Internally a low temperature hot water underfloor heating system is used in conjunction with the thermal mass of the house to maintain comfortable conditions with minimised energy usage. The high natural light levels mean there is little need for artificial lighting during daylight hours.