Stadthaus is a highly innovative building for three
reasons: its architecture, its build technology and its
eco-credentials. Developer Telford Homes won universal
praise from the judges for this clever combination.
The architecture by Waugh Thistleton includes a
facade in shades of grey inspired by the artist
Gerhard Richter. The white, grey and black design
made from more than 5000 individual panels
originates from the shadows formed on the vacant
site by surrounding buildings and trees, the shadows
being pixelated to give the final effect.
The north London development of 29 apartments
provides open-market sale homes, as well as shared
ownership and rental homes for Metropolitan Housing
Trust. Apartments are sited over eight storeys with the
ninth featuring a communal roof terrace and two
private terraces.
The block is constructed from renewable crosslaminated
timber to form a cellular structure of solid
timber load bearing walls and timber floor slabs off a
reinforced concrete podium at first floor. The crosslaminated
timber system was designed and
manufactured in Austria and sourced from local, wellmanaged
spruce forests.
Prefabricated timber sections were transported from
Austria and craned into position, dramatically cutting
build time and minimising traffic and noise disruption.
The Austrian factory uses all parts of the timber, with
shavings and sawdust compacted for re-use locally
as biomass pellets.
The timber system has been used extensively on the
continent, but Stadthaus is believed to be the tallest
modern timber residential building in the world at 28
metres, built using only timber from ecologically,
economically and socially responsible forests. The
white, grey and black facade is made from Eternit
Natura board, which is made at a factory with
ISO14001, the standard for environmental
management.
Because the building is made from sustainably
produced timber, the structure is effectively wholly
recyclable above podium level.
Homes also have high efficiency boilers and
underfloor heating. To complete the impressive ecopackage,
the block is topped by photovoltaic panels
that supply the power for communal lighting
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