ER Residence by Studio Hallett Ike is the winner of the Best Project Under £100K award, which recognises great value. For this ground-floor flat in an existing Victorian terraced house in North London, the design considerately adds a much needed bedroom and sociable dining room, as part of an extensive refurbishment and extension. The previously cramped galley kitchen has been opened up and adapted, and is now a fluid connection between the traditional reception room and a contemporary and light filled sunken dining space. With a muted colour palette and an emphasis on natural materials throughout, the apartment retains many original period features, contrasting against the parred back contemporary additions.

 

ER Residence is architect Studio Hallett Ike’s first project – and until recently their own accommodation – in Haringey, north London. A Corten-steel door opens up into a main living room space with an axis down and through to a view of the garden; the intended glimpse of a ‘hidden jewel’ at the end of the scheme.  The architects worked to express and celebrate the building’s original features in the main living space including the cornice, fireplace and flooring and set off by a textured clay finish for the walls. The palette was kept light and neutral but also warm and tactile to enable light to ‘bounce’ around the ground floor flat, with bespoke furniture designed to set off the lighter elements but keep it ‘clean’ and harmonious.

A kitchen of stainless steel and plywood leads off into a master bedroom with more tall ceilings and a plaster finish with a recurring theme of a datum line to continue a calm aesthetic, and proprietary windows onto a courtyard. A terrazzo-lined bathroom faces the linear kitchen, while a dining space at the rear of the flat includes a dining bench and storage with another bespoke table that in turn leads on to a second bedroom with a picture window that is currently being used as a workspace. Clad in charred larch with batons, the dining space elevation leads out onto the garden, with plants selected by the architects including ferns and others that love shade.

The winning team: Jonty Hallett and Madeline Ike, Founders, Studio Hallett Ike