Tin House in London

Shepherd's Bush is a London borough with long, parallel streets lined with pretty Victorian rowhouses. The typically two- or three-story brick houses have narrow gardens behind them, sealed off from the rest of the city. This urban structure leaves little room for additional development, though Henning Stummel was able to squeeze a private residence into the middle of one such block, on land that formerly served as a wrecking yard. Since the backs of the surrounding houses looked onto the house, the architect developed a plan of single-story, skylit pavilions – one room per cell – that look onto a central courtyard with a pool.

To enhance the character of the ensemble, Stummel gave each exterior surface the same skin: roof and walls are covered with standing seam metal cladding, whose orange-red color coordinates with the surrounding brick buildings. The color coating is made of a patented bio-based technology (SSAB's GreenCoat PLX BT) in which a substantial portion of the traditional fossil content is replaced by a bio-based component. This reduces the environmental footprint relative to traditional products. Further, the product is highly resistant to corrosion, UV radiation and scratches. The manufacturer exposed 10,000 coated test panels to year-round conditions of salt water, snow, ice, rain, UV radiation, wind and storms in Sweden and Florida. For Stummel, this means the material will survive London's sometimes harsh climate London without any problems.

A version of this article was originally published as "Haus aus Zellen" on German-Architects.