According to Juhani Pallasmaa, the renowned Finnish architect, the door handle is ‘the handshake of a building’. Architecture may be the most physical of the arts but it is one in which the sense of vision is privileged. Architects talk about light, space, shadow, solid and void, but rarely about texture and weight, about how an object feels in the hand or the effects it exerts on the body, its tactile, haptic qualities.

The door handle is one of the smallest architectural elements, yet it can exert the most powerful of impacts. Our sense of touch introduces us to the building. It is the weight, solidity and texture of the handle which guides us across the threshold and communicates our first impression of architecture.

Paul McAneary Architects’s beautifully considered door handles aim to create small moments of hand-held architecture which reveal something about the time in which they were made. But equally, they are also capable of absorbing and celebrating the transformative effects of use and wear.

Like a building, the handle is not a static object but a piece of micro-sculpture which bears the traces and memories of those who have briefly touched it, standing as an exquisite reminder of the exigencies of use. Inseparable from the moment in which it was conceived, layered with and enriched by the patina of age, it remains one of the most potent and intrinsic elements of architecture.

[By Catherine Slessor*]

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Paul McAneary Architects’s first studio was a top floor eyrie three floors up in Kingly Street in London’s Soho. As young architects just starting out, creative thinking was required to devise a functional setting for the practice’s operations that also reflected its wider architectural ethos.

Though modest in scale, it embodies the practice’s essential design principles in creating a large, luminous, white-walled space with a simple, looping plan, using a carefully judged palette of materials.

The expediency of a tight budget prompted the inventive appropriation of off-the-peg elements, such as the storage units, which were adapted from Ikea. Staff were arranged around one large desk, promoting interaction. Slim light fittings were fixed to the existing timber roof trusses and a specially customised lightbox, now redundant in the era of digital images, occupied a prominent space.

Paul McAneary Architects’s experience of Kingly Street illustrated the difficulty of finding space in central London at reasonable rates for emerging practices. After three and a half years, the rent was increased, effectively clearing the building of its occupants. It prompted Paul McAneary Architects to consider its options, leading ultimately to its current premises in Flitcroft Street, on the east edge of Soho, not so far from its original home. [By Catherine Slessor*]

Contract Value

Location Soho, London

Date 2007

Area 46m²

Design Team Paul McAneary Architects

Incorporating the dual functions of a room divider and light source, this illuminated screen is an ingeniously flexible, functional element.

Solid steel sections are bolted together to create a sculptural, self-supporting form that can be moved around to demarcate or illuminate space as required.

Incorporated into the steel sections, LED fittings emit planes of light that bathe walls and rooms in a seductively soft glow.

[By Catherine Slessor*]

Date Ongoing

Design Team Paul McAneary Architects

[By Catherine Slessor*]

For this landscape project for a house in St John’s Wood, the brief was to create an entirely separate enclave within the confines of an existing back garden. Paul McAneary Architects subtle and inventive use of planting creates architectural layers and depth to engender a sense of seclusion and tranquility that tactfully blocks out the distracting urban milieu.

An evergreen screen of planting heralds the entrance to the garden and also conceals it from view. A winding path leads to a sunken seating area formed from rough, chisel-faced sandstone. As you descend to the lower level, you become fully submerged within within a luxuriant bower and the house and its wider surroundings disappear.

The trajectory is delineated by a narrow winding path made from reclaimed railway sleepers. Laid in an offset yet orthogonal pattern, the sleepers impart a calm, ordering spirit typical of traditional Japanese Zen gardens. Ground covering of Soleirolia (baby’s tears) and Dicranoweisia cirrata (moss) flourish between the timbers. Their jewel-like, bright green tones form an animated carpet of vegetation spreading out over the ground in unexpected configurations.

At every turn, planting beds are visible from ground to eye level. Forming an immersive, green space, these layers of planting are synonymous with an English country garden. Rosy purple Verbena bonariensis and Fragaria vesca (alpine strawberries) line the edges of paths, while Stipa tenuissima (fronded grass) provides texture and movement behind. Rising high above eye level, larger shrubs and trees such as Prunis Iusitanica and Philadelphus ‘Virginal’ form the central structure of the beds, demarcating different parts of the garden. The intermediate level is alive with vibrant colours and textures. Pink Fuschia riccartonii and purple Allium giganteum add contrast and provide food for insects to flourish.

A solid, rough-faced bench acts as a focal point along the path. Employing just four elements, its minimal design complements the architectural language of the garden. At night the landscape is transformed by subtle, integrated lighting. Uplighters follow the path casting a gentle glow on the undersides of leaves and stems. Highlighting plants from new angles creates an intriguing interplay of textures and shadows, while separate lights illuminate the surrounding edges of the garden. Framing and highlighting the inner layer of planting in this way focuses attention on the heart of the garden evoking a sense of intimacy and seclusion.

The unpredictable nature of working with living, growing materials provided new challenges for Paul McAneary Architects. Over time, Secret Garden will evolve, changing in form and composition, yet remaining an oasis of calm, providing therapeutic respite from the hectic nature of urban life. [By Catherine Slessor*]

Contract Value Private
Location St Johns Wood, London
Client Private
Date 2011
Area 57m²
Design Team Paul McAneary Architects
Design Service From design concept to detailed design through to end of construction,landscape design
Supplier The London Gardening Company

The idea of substance is crucial to the work of Paul McAneary Architects. In its most obvious manifestation substance speaks of physical materiality and the haptic quality of architecture – what things are made of and how they are put together. It also alludes to a rigour underscoring both the ideas behinds buildings and their actual construction. Typically, this takes the form of a craft-based approach to detailing and fabrication, often as a result of research and experimentation.

Tex-Tonic House 1 forms part of a project for the conversion of two luxury apartments on the top floor of a former Post Office building in central London. In both cases, the way in which materials are wrought, manipulated and repurposed gives the architecture an expressive contemporary resonance.

Within a fluidly open plan, double-height volume, space is defined and demarcated by a series of orthogonal elements. As the client enjoys entertaining, they required a versatile living space for parties and relaxation. Enclosed by oak walls, two bedroom boxes are set at the end of the long living room, nestling under its pitched roof structure. Paul McAneary Architects experimented with various types of surface treatments and finally alighted on a method of wire-brushing and sand blasting with a caustic soda finish to give the oak a weathered appearance. Further experiments with fabrication experiments yielded the distinctive monolithic concrete fireplace, which was cast in situ.

A new timber lattice structure supports a specially designed acoustic ceiling to dampen echo and reverberations within the large single volume. An elegantly thin mezzanine floor is suspended from the roof structure creating a long gallery that seems to float above the living space. The idea of the house as an urban eyrie, functional yet appealing intimately to the senses, finds powerful expression in this cultivated synthesis of space, light and materials. [By Catherine Slessor*]

Contract Value £2.4M
Location Victoria, London
Client Private
Date 2008 – 2010
Area 466m²
Design Team Paul McAneary Architects
Design Service From design concept to detailed design through to end of construction, material creation, lighting design, glazing design, landscape design, planning
Consultants DP9, Peter Deer & Associates, Clancy Consulting
Main Contractor LS Construction
Sub Contractor Plankco, Black Isle Bronze
Supplier Aston Matthews, DirectStone, Palmalisa Zantetedeschi, Quantum, Catalano
Awards 2015 YAYA – Finalist, 2014 UK Property Awards – Won Best Architecture Single Residence London, UK, London Evening Standard – Highly Commended for Best Apartment, 2013 International Design & Architecture Awards – Shortlisted for Residential £2.5 – 35 Million Award, RIBA Awards – Shortlisted for London Regional Awards, SBID – Shortlisted for Residential Intelligent Design Category, 2011 Design Awards – Won Living Space Design of the Year, The Wood Awards – Shortlisted for Structural Award
Exhibitions 2012 Young Architect of the Year 2011 NLA Don’t Move, Improve
Press 2014 Jill Entwistle, ‘Back to School’, FX Magazine, February 2014, 2013 New London Architecture Annual Publication, New London 2013/2014, Home Design A Passion for Living by George Lam, Tiago Krusse, ‘Tex Tonic’, design Magazine, November / December 2013, 2012 Modern Lux Housing by Sandu Publishing, ‘Tex-Tonic House 1’, Designer and Designing, December 2012, James Cleland, ‘ Textural and tectonic’, Renovate, July 2012, ’10 Best Architects’, Grand Designs, June 2012, Claduia Saracco, ‘Loft Bilivello a Londra’, Vero Casa, May 2012, Annalisa Boni, ‘Londra con Vista, Casa Resart, April 2012, Paolo Ruggiero, ‘Tex-Tonic House, Casa Trend Magazine, March 2012, Sarah Baldwin, ‘The Space Race’, Grand Designs Guide, March 2012, Alison Nicholls, ‘ First Class Stamp’, KBB, February 2012, Aldo Mazzolani, ‘Abitare in una scatola’, Ville & Casali, February 2012, Judith Wilson, ‘Architect profile. Paul McAneary’, House & Garden, January 2012, 2011, ’Tex-Tonic House. A double height penthouse apartment in Victoria, London’, Designing Ways, November 2011, Juliaus Vladickos, ’A Warmer Minimalist’, Centras Magazine, October 2011, ‘Wooden Wonder’, Grand Designs, September 2011, ‘Loft Boxes’, AT Casa, September 2011.‘Interactive floor plans: Interiors round-up’, Wallpaper, 24 August 2011, Gemma Figueras, ‘A spectacular London penthouse designed by Paul McAneary Architects, diary DESIGN, 23 August 2011, Jamie Derringer, ’Text-Tonic House by Paul McAneary Architects, design milk, 4 August 2011, Megan Jett, ‘Tex-Tonic house 1 / Paul McAneary Architects,. ArchDaily, 2 August 2011, ‘Tex-Tonic House 1’, ArchiTonic, July 2011

Brief The clients brief in this invited competition was to design two apartments on the top floor of the existing Central London post office and Phillips de Pury art auction house in Victoria, London. The client expressed a wish for large volume ‘loft’ spaces and his desire for contemporary design and functionality. Paul McAneary Architects response won the competition with a proposal for expressed natural tectonics through numerous new details and even developing a new material type – of cast timber bronze.

Concept Design Since the two apartments are built on top of the existing Central London post office, the postal delivery system has been the inspirational source of the concept design. Paul McAneary Architects responded to the brief by expressing and magnifying the ‘post box component-concept-element’ into large boxes of natural materials accommodating for the private programme. We placed three bedroom boxes within the large double height loft space, to provide rooms for sleeping accommodation: additional to the master bedroom and two further bedrooms, they accommodate the master bedroom walk-in wardrobe, en-suite bathroom and a shared bathroom. In line with a more contemporary domesticity, the private programme area is relatively modest in size. The client expressed the desire to have a large versatile living space perfect for relaxation and parties, as a result the living area is spacious and serves multipurpose events. The overall architectural language is modest and dramatic at the same time: mixed timber tectonics have been applied with an emphasis on their texture and intrinsic beauty. The amount of ‘vertical natural light’ flooding through the large skylights, walk on glass and the horizontal curtain walling maximise the exquisite effect of the natural grain and pattern of the timber ceiling, oak beams and floor as well as the bronze ‘timber texture’.

Private Accommodation Boxes The ‘boxes’ of the Tex-Tonic House display natural textured materials. The thick, ‘chunky ‘100mm x 200mm oak sections have been designed to express the depth of the sand blasted oak with an expressed ‘finger’ or ‘comb’ joining detail. The array of boxes is illuminated from below to bring out the natural texture of the material to the full. For the box in the centre we developed a new material, a cast bronze timber cladding. During the preparation process of the timber for the cast we brushed out the summer growth of the timber to articulate the maximum texture. Following this process the timber was burnt to remove the timber’s hair. Following the cast of the bronze an acid solution treatment was applied to achieve a blackened bronze finish. Finally the ridges were brushed to create ‘highlights’ expressing the wood texture of the bronze.

Suspended Timber Mezzanine Floor The aim was to make the mezzanine floor plate to appear floating: the structural challenge was to reduce floor thickness to the minimum possible, as a result it is only 95mm thick. This was technically achieved by suspending the floor from the steel roof structure. Slender 50mm bars support the very thin floor. The chilled wine store is supported by 10mm thin fins, which apart from the structural purpose, function together with the 2268 metre tension wire as shelving for up to 3200 bottles.

Cantilevered Stairs The cantilevered solid oak stair treads lead to a structural glass floor which provides natural light and a transparent connection between the lower kitchen and dining areas as well as the office area and wine store at mezzanine level.

Fireplace The large open plan main living area is broken up by a freestanding sculptural concrete fire place, addressing both the living as well as the dining area. The in-situ cast concrete fireplace with exposed timber plank shuttering combines both the natural concrete and natural texture of timber. The result is a ‘raw’ material with a very natural texture – a simply beautiful product.

Front Door The entrance to the Tex-Tonic House is made of 200 year old Rhodesian Teak. It measures 3,70 metre x 1,40 metre and weights approximately 450 kilos. The door is illuminated from above to emphasise the beautiful texture of this precious wood. The oversized appearance and the textured feeling of the door generate the visitor’s enthusiasm and expectation for the interior.

Dining Table The dining table is similar to the front door made of 200 year old Rhodesian Teak surrounded by 12 mahogany Chippendale dining chairs.

Lighting Our lighting philosophy was to provide numerous options that could be tuned to different settings and saved to facilitate the multitude of uses of the space at any time of the day or night. Apart from the lighting for the kitchen and dining table, all light fittings are concealed all lighting is therefore indirect as a result minimalistic and atmospheric. The settings can be adjusted from very dim to a dramatic use of light.

Roof Garden The client is passionate about gardening and vegetation.Therefore we designed a 21 metre long vertical living wall: a self-contained and irrigated planting system incorporating ‘acid yellow’, green and white planting scheme. The long horizontal curtain walling maximises the perception of spacial continuity between the interior and the exterior so that the external roof garden becomes a vital ingredient of the internal living space.

Technology We aimed to hide the technology as much as possible, to fully integrate all requirements so as the space could remain as calm, uncluttered and contemplative as possible. The space has a fully integrated AV system including B&W surround sound speakers and an integrated monitor into the storage wall which facilitates the numerous and ever increasing types of media. The KNX system that was installed allows the occupier of the spaces to operate light, sound, heating, alarm, blinds, internet and TV from any space within the apartment, from their iPad.

The project’s main features are:

The timber boxes built out of 100mm thick, wire brushed and sand blasted oak with a caustic soda finish.
The cantilevered stairs also in 100m thick wire brushed and sand basted oak to match.
The sandblasted oak beams and columns, with dowelled mortise and tenon pinned joints.
The use of reclaimed timber; the 200 years old Rhodesian teak to produce the oversized front door and matching dining table.
The detailed ceiling lattice work, also in oak that supports an acoustic ceiling;
The 466sqm of 300mm wide engineered oak flooring that was sand blasted and olive and white oiled before having a hard wax oil finish.
The thin mezzanine floor, also finished in the manipulated engineered oak boards.
The cast timber shuttering upon the concrete monolithic fireplace;
The development of cast timber bronze to produce the bronze box cladding – a world’s first.
The kitchen fitted with Gaggenau appliances, an automated wine dispenser and herb garden with automated irrigation system.
The floating wine cellar at mezzanine level with wine bottles displayed horizontally, so that the labels are visible. The special lighting from below produces a beautiful glowing effect of the bottles.
The lava stone feature wall in the guest WC made of lava cut into 10mm x 10mm strips.
Sky-showers: the installation of skylights above all showers.
The living wall: the 21 metre long vertical roof garden.

The idea of substance is crucial to the work of Paul McAneary Architects. In its most obvious manifestation substance speaks of physical materiality and the haptic quality of architecture – what things are made of and how they are put together. It also alludes to a rigour underscoring both the ideas behinds buildings and their actual construction. Typically, this takes the form of a craft-based approach to detailing and fabrication, often as a result of research and experimentation.

Tex-Tonic House 1 forms part of a project for the conversion of two luxury apartments on the top floor of a former Post Office building in central London. In both cases, the way in which materials are wrought, manipulated and repurposed gives the architecture an expressive contemporary resonance.

Within a fluidly open plan, double-height volume, space is defined and demarcated by a series of orthogonal elements. As the client enjoys entertaining, they required a versatile living space for parties and relaxation. Enclosed by oak walls, two bedroom boxes are set at the end of the long living room, nestling under its pitched roof structure. Paul McAneary Architects experimented with various types of surface treatments and finally alighted on a method of wire-brushing and sand blasting with a caustic soda finish to give the oak a weathered appearance. Further experiments with fabrication experiments yielded the distinctive monolithic concrete fireplace, which was cast in situ.

A new timber lattice structure supports a specially designed acoustic ceiling to dampen echo and reverberations within the large single volume. An elegantly thin mezzanine floor is suspended from the roof structure creating a long gallery that seems to float above the living space. The idea of the house as an urban eyrie, functional yet appealing intimately to the senses, finds powerful expression in this cultivated synthesis of space, light and materials. [By Catherine Slessor*]

Contract Value £1.7M
Location Victoria, London
Date 2009 – 2010
Area 466m²
Design Team Paul McAneary Architects
Design Service From design concept to detailed design through to end of construction, material creation, lighting design, glazing design, landscape design, planning
Main Contractor L. S. Construction
Supplier The Plank Co., Black Isle Bronze Ltd, DirectStone Ltd, Palmalisa Zantetedeschi
Press 2014 Jill Entwistle, ‘Back to School’, FX Magazine, February 2014 2013 New London Architecture Annual Publication, New London 2013/2014, Home Design A Passion for Living by George Lam, Tiago Krusse, ‘Tex Tonic’, design Magazine, November / December 2013 2012 Modern Lux Housing by Sandu Publishing, ’Tex-Tonic House 1’, Designer and Designing, December 2012 2011 ‘Tex-Tonic House. A double height penthouse apartment in Victoria, London’, Designing Ways, November 2011
Awards 2015 YAYA – Finalist 2014 London Evening Standard New Homes Awards – Highly Commended for Best Apartment, UK Property Awards – Winner of Best Architecture Single Residence London, UK 2013 International Design & Architecture Awards – Shortlisted for Residential £2.5 – 35 million award, RIBA Awards – Shortlisted for London Regional Awards,SBID – Shortlisted for Residential Intelligent Design Category 2011 Design Awards – Living Space Design of the Year, The Wood Awards – Shortlisted for Best Structural Category
Exhibitions 2012 NLA Don’t Move, Improve! 2011 Young Architect of the Year

This ambitious proposal for a new house in Tooting, in south west London, supplants an existing 1960s dwelling, which in turn replaced an original Victorian house destroyed when the street was bombed during the War. Set in a conversation area, the challenge was to create a spacious modern dwelling on a narrow urban plot. The familiar template of the Victorian two storey house is abstracted and reconceptualised to create a compelling contemporary piece of residential architecture. Angular forms address the rear garden, giving the dwelling its name, Faceted House.

As well as the obvious formal analogies, the house also exhibits many facets in terms of function and layout. Taking advantage of the opportunity to redevelop the site, the house has a large basement containing a home cinema with a projection room, as well as a guest bedroom. A sculptural staircase, which also functions as a wine store, connects the various floors, the sensual gleam of bottles animating its vertical trajectory through the house.

The ground floor is devoted to the main living and dining space. Conceived as a fluid, open plan volume, this extends out to connect with the garden. Crisply detailed planes of clear glass blur the boundaries between inside and out. On the street side, a hardstanding for parking has a retractable fence for convenience and security.

Sleeping quarters are accommodated on the two upper floors, with an ensuite master bedroom at first floor level and children’s bedrooms on the topmost floor. The garden is landscaped in a coolly, minimalist manner and an amply proportioned, sun funnelling glazed roof detail, deliberately invites light into the open space, reinforcing the notion of the house as a modern idyll for the routines and pleasures of domestic life. [By Catherine Slessor*]

Contract Value Undisclosed
Location Tooting, London
Client Private
Date Current
Area 503.82m2
Design Team Paul McAneary Architects
Design Service From design concept to detailed design through to end of construction, interior design, lighting design, glazing design, landscape design,survey,building control, 3D visualisation

Garden Room House shows how a Victorian family house can be imaginatively transformed by adding a single glass room to the existing dwelling. This simple move reconceptualises the garden as a transformable indoor/outdoor room and frees up the footprint of the house, enhancing the effect of natural light and maximising storage.

Previously, the client had struggled to gain planning permission for a small side extension and approached Paul McAneary Architects to propose an alternative. Paul McAneary Architects devised a design that effectively doubles the terraced house’s ground floor footprint and creates a garden room in its truest sense.

The rear of the house was formerly occupied by a dilapidated garage. This was demolished and the resulting awkward, underused space replaced by a single storey extension connected to the kitchen by a glass walkway. A central courtyard is created, defined on three sides by the living space and a set of fully retractable glass doors, cunningly engineered so that the corners are free of supports. When the doors are open, garden and ground floor meld into a seamless and senuous inside/outside realm. The garden becomes not simply an extension of the kitchen, living and play room, but a continually colonised connection between these spaces.

The original decking, which became dangerously slippery when wet, was replaced with grass and integrated drainage, extending the life of the garden through different climates and seasons. Blurring the distinction between inside and out, garden and house are on the same continuous level, so that space flows fluidly between between the two.

A curved ceiling extends along the length of the house, finessing the junction with a 19m long storage wall, the largest Paul McAneary Architects have created to date. Concealed LED lighting animates the repetitive geometry of the storage wall, while a recessed bench and two shelving units provide functional focal points. White oiled oak flooring, deliberately skip sawn to achieve a rougher texture, adds warmth to the interior.

From concept to detail, the remodelling aims to open up and enhance the living space creating a practical and civilised armature for family life. [By Catherine Slessor*]

Contract Value £ 340k
Location Waltham Forest, London
Client Private
Date 2014 – 2015
Area 117m²
Design Team Paul McAneary Architects
Design Service From design concept to detailed design through to end of construction, interior design, lighting design, glazing design, furniture design, survey,building control, 3D visualisation
Main Contractor John McEvilly, MC Construction, www.mcconstructionuk.com
Supplier Plank Co, Easigrass Ltd, IQ Glass
Press 2016 The £100k house: Tricks of the Trade, BBC 2