This was an exercise in making the most out of an existing volume to convert a studio flat into a one-and-a-half bedroom unit. This economic solution included the re-use of a half constructed IKEA kitchen. Orange, a favourite colour, marked the privacy pivot door between bedroom and bathroom. The hit and miss staircase leads up to the compact guest bed platform. The first 2+2 flat and our first foray into development.

Zebra housing has appointed Emrys Architects to master plan two sites they recently purchased in Tufnell Park north London.

The scheme is for post graduate student residences as part of a new build and renovation strategy to be phased over two years.

The scheme is currently in pre-application negotiations, with the first phase of the development due to commence September 2012.

The retrofit and conversion of a 1970s office building, which sits in a conservation area just north of Oxford Street, has provided sixteen private and seven affordable residential apartments with office accommodation on the ground and lower ground floors over 2,322 m2 (25,000 sq ft).

The flats are generously sized especially for their location, the penthouses being planned on two floors, each with large private terraces enjoying stunning views across London.

Public Art has been incorporated into the design of the building. Royal Academician Tess Jaray applied a unique striped terrazzo design to the front entrance steps, whilst the walls are lined with a series of her distinctive geometric prints.

Sustainability measures include super-insulation of external walls, solar panels providing hot water preheating, grey-water recycling and green roofs with habitats for bats & birds to encourage biodiversity.

The project achieves ECO Homes “Very Good” for the residential units and BREEAM ‘Very Good’ for the commercial unit.

This 8,500 sq ft new-build house has had to address the contrasting characteristics of a well -established, very beautiful garden. It necessitated the need for the private side of the house to be designed to reflect each part of the garden’s character: Japanese garden; knot garden; and formal lawn. The public side had to fit within a very well defined conservation area and building typology. Great project!

It’s always easier to demolish a building and put up a footballer’s house instead. This scheme was designed around an existing chicken shed, as a protest against Premier League bling!

We cut down the twelve-metre high lelandi which ran the length of the site, but kept the trees we liked. The design of the house was then worked around and into the shed, engaging with the walled garden and creating a balance between new and old.

An enlightened design officer suggested that a contemporary, as opposed to a neo-Georgian, house would be the most appropriate response to the setting. Thank you!

The client’s brief was for a very low-carbon approach to a canal-side mixed-use scheme of flats, office space, and cafe. A green wall and solar hot water were just two of the green features to be incorporated into a solid timber frame structure.

An American tax lawyer with exacting standards – and an amazing art collection – required a flat that was tailored to his family’s very specific tastes. The husband’s bathroom had a penitentiary style with stainless steel fittings and a masculine book-matched granite wet room; the wife’s was a much softer coral marble with a majestic tub sitting in the middle.

We were shortlisted in a competition to develop a site in Lewisham owned by the Merchant Taylor’s Livery.

The – fascinating – brief called for a re-evaluation of the way we provide extra care facilities to the aged population in a more humane and personable way. We carried out considerable research, visiting to see first-hand the private offer to the market. The site was also very challenging, falling 9m across the diagonal, with a considerable number of mature trees and established habitations for wildlife.

Our proposal was based on the concept of providing a living corridor that could work on many levels: a place to sit; a route to walk; an opportunity to chat; a secure environment; and a viewing gallery to the various landscaped areas and mini gardens provided within the site.

A show boating cook requires a dais upon which to perform surrounded by a lake of American Black Walnut. A simple brief: another orange solution!

A war of attrition: it took three planning applications and three appeals, and a further retrospective application to establish the right to build on the roof of an ugly 1970s apartment building surrounded by taller Local Authority blocks. Three years from start to finish, the penthouse sold in three days and marked our first new-build in-house development.

A bombed out laundry fly tipped with Japanese Knotweed and the scene of a drug land murder – a man stabbed to death fourteen times is hoovered up off the pavement. Not the start to a crime novel – just the usual start to a difficult urban site. This was the backdrop to a high-density, brown field, urban infill housing scheme and a Housing Design Award. It is also our largest completed in-house development to date.

Seventeenth century meets contemporary modern via the planning inspectorate; this is the classic battleground between Listed Building Officer and client ambition. We did prevail, and the ‘piece’ is the better for it, clearly distinguishing the old from the new. Small dark spaces contrast with volume and light. Modern details are juxtaposed with old timber bressimers and Cotswold stone.

We have recently won planning permission for this mixed-use development for a prominent corner site within the Camberwell Green Conservation Area in South London. The project, a flagship for the wider regeneration of the area, includes 27 residential units, retail facilities, a members-only snooker club and a restaurant/wine bar.