Hello Ben, can you tell us about Architecture for London?
Our award-winning studio is a collaborative team of architects, engineers, landscape and interior designers. Environmental impact is a key consideration in our work: we take a research-based, fabric-first approach to sustainability that carefully considers the embodied energy of materials and the performance of our buildings in use.
As a main contractor via our sister company, AFL Build, we aim to close the construction gap, with specialist experience in constructing airtight and highly insulated buildings.
Your studio emphasises sustainable design and the creation of healthy homes. Can you describe your ethos further and how you got started in this area?
I have always had a keen interest in sustainability concerning the built environment. This is important, as up to 25% of our CO2 emissions come from our buildings.
I qualified as a Certified Passivhaus Designer in 2016 and these principles have become a guiding force for my practice’s work.
Can you elaborate on how the principles of Passivhaus construction including air quality and thermal comfort along with the use of low VOC and natural materials create a healthier living environment?
The Passivhaus approach results in healthier, more comfortable buildings. It creates homes that have a comfortable, consistent temperature without cold spots near windows or doors. The lack of cold bridges means that condensation and therefore mould growth is eliminated. Mould is a serious health hazard, and it is often present in homes with poor thermal performance.
Passivhaus homes are relatively airtight and have their fresh air supplied by highly efficient MVHR systems. These pre-heat the fresh incoming air very efficiently, but they also have HEPA filters that significantly reduce levels of diesel particulates, NOx and pollen in the home.
We select natural, low embodied energy materials wherever possible and these also tend to avoid the VOC issues that may come with modern, highly processed materials and paints. For this reason, we use timber, natural stone, clay and lime plaster and try to minimise steel, concrete and painted finishes.
How do you describe your approach to design services?
At our core, we are an architect-led studio, but we uniquely offer a full range of complementary services to our clients. We take pride in an inclusive and open design process that involves the client at each stage. We strive for a poetic response to design questions and proposals are developed with an iterative approach to sketching, model making and visualisation.
Our work draws inspiration from the existing built fabric of our cities and, crucially, is informed by the immediate site context. This considered approach creates beautiful and contextual buildings that provide value for money in both construction and use.
You recently renovated your own low-energy home. Can you tell us more about the project?
I bought the house intending to refurbish it, so I was looking for an unloved home and was open to a challenging project. I found the perfect one – an Edwardian house in Muswell Hill that hadn’t been refurbished since the 1970s. Originally, it had lots of floral carpets and flock wallpaper and it was suffering from considerable damp and condensation issues!
As both architect and client, the project offered the perfect opportunity to demonstrate our practice’s values: to design an exemplar for the sustainable refurbishment of a typical terraced home in London, with a constrained budget. The design process had to carefully balance sustainability and budget, whilst trying to avoid a compromise between low-energy improvements and aesthetics.
What are your plans for the future?
We’d love to continue creating beautiful, healthy sustainable homes. In addition to our bespoke homes for private clients, we are now applying the same low-energy principles to larger projects, including the development of 11 flats in north London and a refurbishment of a converted warehouse in Clerkenwell London, creating six low-energy offices for start-up companies.
For more information visit Architecture for London
