Canal House
A recently completed project in Victoria Park, London, by WILLIAM TOZER Associates
The modern extension and landscape elements create apertures that frame views of activity on the adjacent canal. Referencing the work of the Italian architect Carlo Scarpa, an inverted box rooflight punctuates a dining space, just inside the extension from the garden. A sitting area in the open-plan kitchen is similarly zoned by another rooflight, this one conversely set into a deep reveal, framing a view of the sky. The depth of this rooflight opening contributes to the perception of the ceiling and roof as a solid white plane in the architectural composition, as expressed on the rear elevation. The steel frame of the new structure is exposed, and finished in an intumescent paint that mimics the colour of the standard red oxide primer—as if the project is still in the process of construction. Colored films applied to glazed elements recall the polychromatic lead-light front door of the original house.
