Aria’s stunning terracotta ‘Apartment’ in Islington
The Contemporary design and lifestyle retailer, Aria, have teamed up with luxury furniture brand, Ligne Roset, to create THE APARTMENT, a beautiful ‘living showcase’ at the impressive ‘One.Six.Eight’ terracotta building in London.
The building, on the corner of Upper Street, right in the heart of Islington’s buzzy high street, was bombed in the Second World war and has been derelict until now. The owners of Aria (whose lovely store is just across the road) bought it and commissioned Amin Taha Architects to create an ‘outstanding building’, which is a monument to it’s history as well as a gorgeous contemporary state of the art luxury dwelling.
Inspired by it’s original Palladian architecture, but with no attempt to mimic the past, the unique façade introduces a ‘missing piece’ of an Islington terrace. The inside-out building echoing the technique used by Rachel Whiteread, has been cast in terracotta concrete to reference the original exterior and interior. New windows and floors cut through this terracotta cast creating an overlapping warm aesthetic of different textures and finishes. The effect feels both strikingly modern but also cosy and welcoming.
Architects now have to consider sustainability in everything they do, and Amin Taha have embraced this challenge. Architect Jason Coe explained that the new floors were constructed using CLT (cross laminated timber) slabs, which have huge environmental benefits in comparison to traditional methods such as concrete. CLT slabs are incredibly quick to erect (a previous Amin Taha project took 8 days instead of 8 months to install and the carbon usage calculation was 140kg as opposed to 6 tonnes!). And of course they are made of a renewable resource which was previously used to capture carbon.
PRADO by Christian Werner from £ 3460. Stylist: Hannah Franklin; Photograph by Oliver Perrott
There is also a strong sustainable element to the furniture, by Ligne Roset, a family-run company with a focus on environmentally conscious design. The aim is always to reduce the impact on the environment at every stage of the product life cycle from production right through to designing it with materials that can be recycled after its use.
PLOUM by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, from £ 2656. Stylist: Hannah Franklin;Photograph by Oliver Perrott
Hats off to Aria for creating this amazing space. More than just a retailer, Aria’s showroom frequently plays host to design events, art exhibitions, workshops and designer talks.
Open for a limited time, The Apartment is showcasing the team’s shared values of innovation, craftsmanship, tactility and groundbreaking design.
To view the space, call 0207 704 1999 or pop in-store and ask a member of staff. The owners are at present undecided about the future of The Apartment but whoever ends up living there will be very lucky indeed.