MARZIALE

Brick Used - Thorn Marziale

Architect - Russell Jones Architects, UK

Location - London

In the Highgate area of London, architects converted a former mews house into a new residential property. This two-storey housing project in North London faces a quiet cobbled mews, at the rear of a listed building. It sits amongst a patchwork of rear fenced off gardens, garages, mews houses and rear extensions.

The designers planned to build a two-storey house with an area of 70 square metres on a site of a mere 90 square metres. The challenge was to avoid introducing spatial upheaval and to only focus on the essential aspects.

The choice of building material for this small mews house in Highgate was influenced by the original context, and the ongoing development of the mews into a new residential enclave.

Marziale was selected for all external and internal structural walls, and precast concrete paving stones in a light tone to match the brickwork.The quality of the brickwork has been enhanced through the use of a carefully selected mortar, using white cement, lime and washed river sand, and a subtle surface treatment using a method known in bagging.