Open House 2017 – four iconic buildings restored by Avanti

This year marks 25 years of Open House London, the annual architecture festival where hundreds of buildings will open their doors to the public for free.

Included as part of the programme are four much loved buildings by pioneering architects of the modernist movement, which have been carefully restored by Avanti Architects in more recent years:

Click on the project titles for full descriptions.

Isokon Building
Open House visitors link
An Iconic block of flats by Wells Coates, completed in 1934 and home to Walter Gropius of the Bauhaus, Agatha Christie, Marcel Breuer and James Stirling. The first of its kind to be built with reinforced concrete, the Isokon was an experiment in new ways of urban minimal living with built in plywood furniture and many communal facilities.  Avanti’s restoration received wide acclaim including the RIBA Crown Estate Conservation Award.  A gallery was also created on the ground floor of the building to tell the story of the building, its residents and bespoke furniture. The building is now Grade I listed

2 Willow Road
Open House visitors link
The home of celebrated architect & designer Ernö Goldfinger, and one of a terrace of 3 houses he designed in Hampstead. The project was completed in 1939 after many objections had been overcome from those opposed to its innovative design (including from Ian Fleming who named his arch villain Goldfinger..). The building is now Grade II* listed.  Avanti undertook a comprehensive restoration and updated 2 Willow Road to allow it to function as a living museum for the National Trust.

Haggerston School
Open House visitors link
Grade II listed secondary school designed by Ernö Goldfinger 1962-7. Avanti have sensitively upgraded and remodelled the existing buildings, enabled higher environmental performance, increased pupil capacity and provided a new integrated design, art and ICT block.  The refurbishment project has been recognised across many architectural and community awards.

Priory Green Estate
Estate Open House visitors link
A modernist housing estate designed by Lubetkin & Tecton pre-World War II, to offer a more socially progressive model for housing. The project was put on hold with the onset of war in 1939 and was completed against the backdrop of post war austerity in 1955. Avanti Architects helped the estate to be recognised as a Conservation Area following award winning regeneration work on part of the scheme at Priory Heights, and ensured that the major refurbishment and estate upgrade of Priory Green was undertaken to a conservation standard befitting its heritage.