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Journal

A new clubhouse for Elmwood Lawn Tennis Club

Render of a single-storey tennis clubhouse with pale textured hempcrete walls and a pale standing-seam zinc roof carrying a row of sawtooth rooflights. A canopy shelters a café terrace with tables; people sit on the lawn and walk paved paths, with a tennis court and Victorian terraces behind. RISE Design Studio.

How hempcrete, a standing-seam zinc roof and CLT prefabrication shape a low-energy clubhouse in Kensal Rise.

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What a basement costs in London, and what drives it

A calm basement kitchen with a large stone island and bar stools, lit by daylight from a glazed wall onto a sunken courtyard and a concrete stair rising to the garden. Board-marked concrete ceiling, polished concrete floor, open shelving with ceramics. RISE Design Studio.

In London you can't easily build up or out, so a lot of homeowners end up looking down. A basement isn't the easy option, but on a constrained site it's often the only way to add real space, and done well it can change how the whole house works rather than just adding floor area.

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Small sites: the case for building in the gaps

A row of contemporary three-storey townhouses in pale pinkish brick, with stepped, stacked forms, deep window reveals and recessed terraces, set behind low brick walls and young street trees. An older brick house stands at the near corner. RISE Design Studio.

Every city has gaps: unused corners, leftover plots, the awkward edges between buildings. A lot of the housing we need could go on land like this, already inside the city, rather than on new estates at its edge.

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Building Within: The Sustainable Potential of Backland Development

Architectural visualisation of three low-energy homes on a backland development site, featuring natural materials, biodiverse landscaping and compact sustainable housing designed within an established residential neighbourhood.

Most conversations about housing start at the edge of towns and cities.

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How BIMx Helps Clients Understand Their Project Before It's Built

architect director sean ronnie hill and a client reviewing a project in their queen's park studio

One of the biggest sources of cost overruns on building projects isn't poor construction.

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Japandi Design: What Architects Can Learn From Japanese and Scandinavian Traditions

Japandi-inspired interior featuring natural timber ceilings, textured plaster walls, arched openings, woven floor coverings and carefully filtered daylight. The space combines Japanese and Scandinavian design principles with a focus on craftsmanship, natural materials and simplicity.

Japandi has become one of those terms that appears everywhere in interior design.

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Backland Development: Can You Build a Sustainable Home in Your Garden?

Architectural visualisation of a sustainable backland housing development with contemporary brick homes, shared pedestrian spaces, mature trees and biodiverse landscaping. Residents walk through a community-focused courtyard designed around low-energy living and gentle urban density.

One of the most common conversations we're having at the moment starts with a simple question:

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Extending a Georgian Home: Balancing Heritage, Performance and Modern Living

Contemporary rear extension to a Georgian brick house featuring large sliding glazing, natural materials and a landscaped garden. The design creates a clear distinction between old and new while improving daylight, garden connections and the home's overall performance.

Georgian houses remain some of the most sought-after homes in the UK.

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Tennis in an English garden: reimagining the Elmwood pavilion

Render of a low single-storey tennis pavilion with pale brick walls and a tiled pitched roof carrying four circular rooflights and a row of sawtooth monitor rooflights. Full-height glazing opens the club room to a terrace, a canopy shelters café tables, set in a wildflower meadow with trees in blossom. RISE Design Studio.

A few streets from our Lexi Cinema project in Kensal Rise, behind hedges and the back gardens of family homes, Elmwood Lawn Tennis Club has quietly served its members for more than seventy years. It's the kind of place you only find if someone takes you there.

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Which building standard is right for your project?

A contemporary board-marked concrete extension to a brick Victorian house, with full-height sliding glazing opening to a gravel courtyard, a timber-lined kitchen with a stone island inside, and a screened upper terrace. Climbing planting and a flowering shrub frame the view. RISE Design Studio.

very project has to decide how hard it's going to work on energy and comfort, and that decision shapes how the building feels and what it costs to run for decades. Choosing a standard isn't only about clearing the regulations.

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