House Overlooking Cemetery by Eldridge Smerin

London based architects Eldridge Smerin have remodeled an old house in north London which is located next to the Highgate Cemetery. Following is some information provided by the architects, “Inspired by seeing Eldridge Smerin’s Stirling Prize short­listed house The Lawns, on Highgate Hill in north Lon­don, the owner of a nearby house approached the prac­tice about designing a new house on the same site.

The existing house dating from the 1970’s was designed by noted Architect John Winter and sat next to High­gate Cemetery, London’s greatest Victorian cemetery. Although the site offered spectacular views over the cemetery, Waterlow Park opposite and the city skyline beyond, replacing a John Winter house is a decision not taken lightly.

When Eldridge Smerin had investigated options for ei­ther retaining the corroding steel structure or for replace­ment, it was clear that to restore the Winter house would have required complete reconstruction and would have compromised the greater potential for a new house on such a unique site. The resulting new house is located on the footprint of the existing house. It is set over four floors with a generous proportion of living to bedroom space including balconies, terraces and a sizable sliding glass roof light enabling the top floor to become an open-air court. To the street a sheer façade of honed black granite, translucent glass and black steel panels set flush to one another echoes the massiveness of the cemetery wall. This gives the house an air of mystery and intrigue whilst also making reference to the monumental masonry of the cemetery. 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.

The use of a concrete frame with a high quality exposed finish internally also allows a more sustainable environ­mental strategy for the house to be developed than the lightweight construction of the original house allowed. The intention was to produce a house with significantly lower energy usage than the original even with an increased floor area. The slow heat response characteris­tics of the concrete allow the frame to act as an environ­mental modifier slowing down heat gain in summer and limiting heat loss in winter whilst the form of the house with large glazed openings facing south allows passive solar gain to be maximized during winter months.”