Vaulting Loft occupies the second/ top floor of a detached, Victorian era, house in Hampstead, London. Designed by Mata Architects, the flat is the London base of a family who are based abroad but spend a lot of time visiting London for periods spanning a few days to a few weeks at a time. Given its location in a conservation area of Hampstead in north London, there was a requirement that any interventions were invisible from the street.
Mata Architects received planning consent in May 2023 for a large roof extension. The scheme infills a valley that existed between two parallel roof ridges, creating an expansive new flat roof and a grand 4.8m floor to ceiling height below. The extension allowed them to reconfigure what was previously a two bedroom top floor flat into three bedrooms. In addition, the epic height created an opportunity to insert a mezzanine floor.
In September 2023, they started on-site by fully demolishing the existing roof, making way for an entirely new roof which allowed them to expose and express the roof structure. It also enabled them to maximize floor to ceiling height whilst making substantial improvement to the roof’s thermal performance, which are expected to have a hugely positive effect on future energy consumption and bills.
“The new roof sits entirely within the building’s existing footprint when viewed from ground level, respecting the conservation area while transforming the interior experience completely,” said Dan Marks, Founder, Mata Architects. “We envisioned the apartment as a white, cathedral-like space defined by the ever-present dynamic roof form – at times soaring to nearly five meters, at others dropping to waist height to create more intimate, human-scale moments.”
Moving through the flat, the new dynamic roof form moves with you, at times soaring high creating a grand and expansive sense of space, whilst at others it drops down low, creating moments of more human scale and intimacy. The volume below the mezzanine is conceived as a solid timber block, out of which space is ‘carved’ for circulation to the three bedrooms, storage and a guest WC. This sculptural block is articulated in warm Oak, inside and out, contrasting with the wider, white space from which it emerges.
The interiors of Vaulting Loft feature white finishes that highlight the unique roof geometry, with ceiling beams and Douglas fir floorboards treated in white oil. The design contrasts these elements with exposed oak at the central block, darker woods in the bedrooms, and Taj Mahal Quartzite stone for the kitchen countertops and splashbacks. According to the architects, they wanted a restrained palette that would let the architecture speak.
