Islington Loft Access, London Property Redevelopment, Building Project, Photo

London Loft Access

Islington Property Renewal design by Tamir Addadi Architecture, England, UK

15 Dec 2010

London Loft Access in Islington

Design: Tamir Addadi Architecture

Completed 2010

Loft access, London

London Loft Design

The client asked us to replace the ladder to the loft with permanent stairs in order to improve the connection of the loft to the rest of the house, as he decided to start using it as a study. The main challenge was to design a staircase for the narrow space of 140 cm x 90 cm.

We found it important to come up with a design solution that would help integrate the two differently designed floors – the wood-clad loft with its clean modern lines, and the carpeted Victorian lower floor with its engraved banisters – without disturbing each of their distinctive characters. We aimed to achieve this by designing three minimal and separate elements that function together as a staircase but remain abstract in shape, and can be seen almost as pieces of furniture that have been placed in the space – rather then a fixed feature of either the lower or upper floor.

One result of widening the opening to the loft was an increase in the amount of natural light coming in from the loft’s skylight into the originally quite dark landing of the lower floor. The narrowness of the stairs and the fact that they are slightly removed from the wall contribute to this effect, as they let some light in all around them.

Improving the flow of light was also another way of strengthening the connection between the floors and making it more inviting to use the staircase and climb up into the loft.

Original loft ladder access:

Materials: 6mm welded and painted steel sheet, 50mm painted steel post, 20mm toughened glass.

London Loft Access – Building Information

Location: Islington, north east London
Client: private
General contractor: Krzysztof Potocki
Metal work: Metalex
Structural engineer: HPS
Design: Tamir Addadi Architecture

Photography: Tamir Addadi

London Loft Access images / information from Tamir Addadi

Location: Islington, London, England, UK