Located above London’s Finchley Road & Frognal Overground station, Petra Heights consists of three apartment towers reaching up to 10 storeys built with three-tonne blocks of basalt and larvikite. While the raw stone reduced carbon emissions by roughly 30%, switching an internal timber frame to concrete during ownership changes increased costs and required additional structural steel bracing. The complex also features a communal roof garden, an open-air central staircase, and a stone elevator shaft assembled from Norwegian slabs in a single day.
Key points
Using raw load-bearing stone cut carbon emissions by roughly 30% compared to typical stee…: Using raw load-bearing stone cut carbon emissions by roughly 30% compared to typical steel or concrete-framed structures.
Switching an intended timber frame to concrete increased costs and necessitated thicker s…: Switching an intended timber frame to concrete increased costs and necessitated thicker stone blocks along with steel bracing.
The project proves structural stone can serve as a viable low-carbon alternative to moder…: The project proves structural stone can serve as a viable low-carbon alternative to modern steel and concrete frames.
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There’s been a geological eruption on London’s Finchley Road. Great chunks of pink basalt and igneous larvikite appear to have exploded from the railway cutting, shooting skywards to form teetering towers. Anyone trying to find Finchley Road & Frognal station need wonder no more: just look for the multistorey Stonehenge.
Countless apartment towers have sprouted above London’s stations in recent years, a result of public transport-oriented policies, but none have looked like the Flintstones were in charge.
“This is one of those stations where people are always scratching their heads trying to find it,” says architect Amin Taha, standing at the foot of his rocky megalith, an unmissable landmark next to the Overground entrance. “We’re unlikely to start building church spires or grand civic buildings with clocktowers again, so we wanted to make something people could point to and say, ‘It’s next to that building.’”
They might add that the towers, called Petra Heights, look like they’ve been assembled by a giant child, with building blocks chiselled straight from the quarry. The igneous rock that holds up these flats has…
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