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Case Studies
Little Ealing Lane
Every now and then an event occurs in a company’s history that could be considered momentous. For us, this project on Little Ealing Lane is one such landmark achievement, demonstrating our innovative approach to urban living through the installation of cutting-edge technology as part of a thoughtful design.
The Challenge
Any project that is undertaken in a city as busy and built-up as London comes with one key challenge: space - or a lack of it. Over many hundreds of years, houses have been built, changed, knocked down, rebuilt and adapted many times over until what we are left with today is a tightly-knit patchwork of different architectural styles jostling for space.
The owners of this home on Little Ealing Lane wanted to increase their living space and improve natural light levels significantly but were limited by the proximity of their surroundings.
The Vision
We were tasked with rebuilding the Victorian terrace at the rear of the property into a massive open-plan seating area using a sloping single-storey glass extension. Not satisfied with just extending horizontally, the owners and architects wanted to go vertical too - this was where the innovation would occur.
The design was a huge triple-height space which consisted mostly of glass. But it’s the details that make this a truly spectacular, light-filled transformation: a double mezzanine to create a large, airy open space, a steel staircase to connect all of the levels and a unique temperature-controlled spiral staircase with an opening glass roof, accessible from the living room, which serves as a wine cellar and is visible from the sofas.
All of this wonderful open space would be topped with our innovative electronic sliding roof lights, allowing air and light into all that space below.
The Glass
For the three-storey glass space that is topped by an electronically moveable glazed roof, we had to undertake quite extensive research to find out what was already possible in terms of technology before developing our own solution. Having hit the books, that solution was a sliding roof light measuring 5.5m, with an opening section of 2.8m to provide unrivalled ventilation for the triple-height space below. The key detail lies in the sliding and fixed panels. The fixed panel was glazed and sealed before installation of the sliding mechanism, meaning that there was little room for error after the fact.
For the glass enclosure below, we use 10m clear toughened safety glass, with 16mm black spacer bar and argon-filled cavity for insulation and 13.5mm clear toughed safety glass, featuring a low-e coating and SGP laminate to minimise glare but keep the glass looking as clear and pristine as possible. We used the same coatings on the Sky Frame sliding doors on the ground level, which featured 6mm toughened glass.
To create a sleek finish, black gaskets, spacer bars and silicon were chosen and any aluminium used was powder coated in signal black to match.
The Results
If you are lucky enough to stand inside this Little Ealing Lane home on a bright day, you can revel in the abundance of beneficial natural light that flows through the rear extension (illuminating the newly landscaped garden) and the three-storey vertical installation above.
If things get a little warm (something that is limited by the thermal technologies incorporated into the glazing), you can open the glass roof with a few taps on the control panel. We love a design that pushes the envelope – this one certainly does that, seals it and sends it off with a flourish, redefining the boundaries of modern urban architecture for the better.
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