Architect Amin Taha is selling 15 Clerkenwell Close, which houses both his home and the offices of his studio Groupwork, with proceeds set to fund a new building for the firm.
The controversial stone building, which is located in London’s Clerkenwell, has been put up for sale via property agents Compton seeking offers in the excess of £3,200,000.
In a video made for the property agents, above, Taha takes viewers on a tour of the RIBA National Award-winning building, which he both designed and developed in 2017.
It contains both the Groupwork offices and his own home but is now being sold to enable the studio to move to another location.
“Groupwork have found another location (which the team at Compton is facilitating) for a new building that could be twice the size of their Clerkenwell Close building with a carbon-negative outcome in stone and timber beyond the net zero ambition they had at Clerkenwell Close conceived 12 years ago,” Taha told Dezeen.
The proceeds of the 15 Clerkenwell Close sale will help the studio acquire the site for its new home.
“As Clerkenwell Close was developed from the sales proceeds of Groupwork’s Golden Lane home, the new site can be bought and developed from the funds of the sale,” Taha said.
15 Clerkenwell Close has a distinctive facade – a structural exoskeleton made from raw quarried limestone that also features visible fossils.
Inside, among its features are a glass box that the architect described as “suspended in mid-air” and skylights that bring light into the office space. This double-height space also features a green wall and has an added mezzanine floor.
Leaving the building gives Taha mixed feelings, he added.
“Having served as my home, workplace, and community for more than seven years, parting ways with this space will be filled with sentiment yet accompanied by a sense of excitement,” Taha concluded.
The office and residential building was the subject of a planning battle with Islington Council, with Taha ordered to demolish it due to the natural stone used on its facade not being fully detailed in the planning documents.
However, the architect won an appeal against the council and 15 Clerkenwell Close was saved from demolition in 2019 and made the shortlist for the Stirling Prize in 2021.
The video and photography is courtesy of Compton.
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