The Arches is a minimal house situated in London, United Kingdom, designed by DHaus. Within the coronary heart of North-West London, a group of devoted designers and builders have spent the final 4 to 5 years overcoming quite a few challenges, together with Brexit, Covid, and world conflicts, to create a novel and modern housing mission. The Arches, a set of six terraced townhouses, have now emerged as a testomony to perseverance and collaboration, reinvigorating the Dartmouth Park conservation space whereas prioritizing minimalist design and sustainable practices.
Situated close to the enduring Grove Terrace in London, The Arches are designed to mix seamlessly with the realm’s wealthy historical past and pure magnificence. Drawing inspiration from the historic inexperienced areas alongside Highgate Highway, the group’s imaginative and prescient was to reconnect the 2 public inexperienced areas that body the event web site, finally making a “futuristic Victorian throwback.” The six mews homes, designed to look as single-story dwellings from Highgate Highway, are nestled behind this revitalized inexperienced house. Their entrances are located alongside Faculty Lane to enhance the Victorian architectural grain and current historic cottages within the space.
David and Daniel, the mission’s architects, mixed their native information and intuition to develop a design that respects the historical past and context of the realm whereas pushing the boundaries of structure. The Arches’ design is knowledgeable by the realm’s Neo-Classical British Structure, showcasing a fusion of rectangles and arches inside a brick canvas. By finding out the Roman arches and rendered rusticated bases of native buildings, the architects distilled the design parts to their purest kinds. The mission fastidiously balances up to date design with the preservation of its environment. The brand new homes are solely marginally taller than the unique petrol station on the location, making certain that pure mild nonetheless reaches the neighboring Denyer Home. A inexperienced roof additionally supplies a verdant view for residents and fosters a habitat for native wildlife.
Changing the previous petrol station that when marred the realm, the event’s development concerned the cautious removing of contaminated supplies and the reclamation of the location for public inexperienced house. The group employed prefabricated timber buildings and light-weight metal cross-bracing to create the constructing’s framework. The sustainability-focused design additionally incorporates a inexperienced roof for rainwater harvesting, photovoltaic panels for renewable power, and Ibstock Bexhill Pink Multi bricks for the facade.
Every of the six homes boasts roughly 130 sq. meters of dwelling house, accommodating 3-4 bedrooms, a examine, and a backyard room. The structure of every unit is designed to maximise pure mild, with entrances and lightwells strategically positioned alongside Faculty Lane. The basement stage homes an open-plan dwelling and kitchen space, which opens onto a sunken rear backyard that overlooks Highgate Highway and the newly created grassy house. Regardless of being near the primary street, the dwelling areas exude a way of privateness and seclusion, because of the considerate design and incorporation of pure mild.
Pictures by Richard Chivers, Matthew White, Izzy Scott