About us
This dip in the Thames is where you want to be for quiet residential living and easy access to the West Country. Chiswick, with its green parks and varied architecture –including one of the loveliest Palladian stately homes in the region – also connects swiftly to Heathrow Airport and Central London, via the District Line. Residential plots are blessed with gardens, off-street parking and mature trees.
Our unique style of residential architecture does the homes of Chiswick justice, opening up heritage buildings with efficient, light-bathed layouts that adhere to the local regulations and respect the local vernacular.
Scenario Architecture works collaboratively with all our clients to translate the beloved period architecture of this neighbourhood into homes that work for them. With our long history working alongside planning departments across London, we can realise your vision and ours, at a price you can afford. Years of experience have made our boutique residential architecture practice one of the most coveted in the city.
We set up Scenario in 2007 with a unique vision: to marry our passion for heritage architecture with a new, distinctive approach to contemporary design. From the very start we collaborated with our clients, putting their ambitions and their unique lifestyles at the forefront of our striking living spaces. Our clients’ needs are still central to every design. A highly functional contemporary home must be the product of a deep connection between architect and homeowner. Scenario’s tailor-made homes reflect their lifestyle, their stories, their dreams.
Our landmark project Scenario House was shortlisted for the RIBA London Awards in 2018. We hold it up as a model of our commitment to breathing new life into period properties. Chiswick homeowners looking for a residential architect should examine its fresh, customised approach to a typical London home.
Projects
Full renovation of a family home, exploring the connection between living spaces
The Scenario House, Stoke Newington during NLA Open house event
Starting your Chiswick project
Chiswick Architects Your Chiswick project
Most building projects in Chiswick require approval from the local authority. Chiswick architects can help you through the process, collaborating with council officials to see through your application. Scenario Architects has successfully steered clients through the permissions stage.
We’ve drawn up an illustrated synopsis to help guide you through the planning process for a Chiswick-based renovation, restoration, addition or new-build.
Focal Shift fire place, first project as local architects in Hackney E9
The Scenario House, Stoke Newington during NLA Open house event
2017
Your Chiswick project
We’ve drawn up this illustrated synopsis to help you understand what it means to hire an architect for your residential project, whether you’re planning an extension, renovation or new-build. Be aware that most architectural undertakings in Chiswick require planning and building approval from the London Borough of Hounslow. Ask us about our successful record securing planning permission on behalf of our clients. We can help you navigate that process, working alongside Hounslow officials to see through your application.
If you are thinking about starting an architectural project in Chiswick, be it a renovation, or an extension to an existing property or even a new build house we are here to help.
We created a brief and illustrated overview of the process to help you understand what to expect through the various stages of a residential, extension, renovation or new build project in Chiswick.
Most projects need planning permission from your local council.
TIP: To find out the actual track record which any architects you may be considering has with your local council, go to the planning application search page on your local council’s website and use the search by agent option.
Tip
Working with Scenario Architecture on your Chiswick project
Chiswick Architects Your Chiswick project
Our boutique studio specialises in residential architecture, offering bespoke services for home additions, renovations and new-builds. Based in Wandsworth, we practice across London and beyond.
A RIBA Chartered Practice, Scenario complies with the UK’s strict health and safety criteria. We collaborate closely with our clients throughout every stage of the process, from the design phase, through planning and construction. We aim to deliver every project on time and on budget.
Our skilled team works with the latest 3D design technology: real-time digital visualisations and virtual reality. We feel they are the most effective and efficient tools for seeing through our work, choosing fittings and simulating natural light.
This Chartered Institute of Building case study features a recent Scenario project, demonstrating the benefits of advanced technologies in designing for the domestic sphere.
Working with Scenario Architecture on your Chiswick project
Established in 2007, Scenario Architecture is a boutique architecture studio focused on the high-end residential sector, working extensively throughout and around London. We specialise in every scale and type of domestic project, from interior alterations, through full renovations and refurbishments to new build homes. We offer a full bespoke architecture service tailored to fit your requirements and aspirations.
Our friendly and highly skilled team has the knowledge, experience and expertise necessary to take you step-by-step through the challenging and exciting journey of creating your new home. We will work together with you in close collaboration from initial design, through detail design and planning all the way to tender, construction and successful completion of your project on time and within budget.
Scenario Architecture is an RIBA Chartered Practice, which essentially means that we are compliant with the RIBA (Royal Institute of Chartered Architects) strict criteria, covering insurance, health and safety and quality management systems.
As early adopters of latest technology, we use as a standard for all projects a verity of innovative 3D design and visualisation tools to create and communicate design with our clients. Our experience shows that Real-Time visualisations and Virtual Reality tours are extremely powerful tools to streamline the process of choosing material finishes fixtures and fittings as well as simulating realistic natural light conditions.
When we produce accurate and reliable construction information we use the latest 3D BIM technology, (BIM stands for Building Information Modelling) which means that all project information is derived from a single accurate and coordinated 3D model. Using this cutting-edge technology collaboratively with other consultants as well as contractors has proven to save time and cost for our clients.
A case study featuring one of our projects was published by the Chartered Institute of Building, demonstrating the great benefits of this advanced technology specifically with domestic projects.
Scenario Architecture in London deliver design and architectural expertise for residential projects. We were established in 2007 by Ran Ankory and Maya Carni who both trained with the AA School of Architecture. Scenario have grown to an award-winning team of nine. We have been featured in Dezeen and Elle Decoration UK.
Our highly experienced team of architects Stoke Newington work with clients using innovative 3D and Virtual Reality technology that simulates your new home before the first brick is even laid. This simulation technique allows you to see beautiful scenarios, designed to fit your life. An organic process, it often influences the choice of materials and design methods.
If you are looking for a top architects Chiswick, we can help with your project. We are a RIBA Chartered Practice and we operate across the following areas and postal districts: Camden, Dalston, Hackney, Hampstead, Highgate, Haringey, Islington, East London, Knightsbridge, Kensington and Chelsea, Mayfair, Notting Hill, North London, West London, West Hampstead, Shoreditch, Southwark, Stoke Newington, N1, N6, NW3, N16 and E5.
Full-width extension opens to the beautiful garden of this Victorian property
Complete renovation and extension of a family home
A glazed roof draws daylight deep into the plan
Scenario is an established architecture practice focusing on contemporary residential design. We take on projects of every scale and scope, from home refurbishment, renovation and expansions to new-builds.
Victorian renovations are more compassionate today than they’ve ever been, with homeowners striving to preserve architectural elements like decorative cornicing, ceiling roses, skirting boards and dada rails. Sash windows are being replaced by specially made wood reproductions and wood-burning fireplaces recouped after being sealed off for decades. Paint companies like Farrow & Ball have built multinationals out of replicating the de rigueur colours of Victorian times. And new tile ceramicists are bringing back traditional motifs with contemporary silhouettes, for front gardens and foyers. Hardwood floors have made a comeback, with timber salvage and reproduction going strong.
Most renovations focus on transforming the core of the home, and revolutionise the kitchen and bathrooms in the process. To recoup the extra floor area today’s families have become accustomed to, Chiswick architects are extending into voids in the lofts and side returns common in Victorians. Small period kitchens can open up into the side return without eradicating period features; in the recovered space, a corner can be reserved for a powder room or utility room. Ditto the loft: pushing up the ceiling and pushing out dormer windows can make new space available for an en suite bathroom.
With extending out into dead space comes the welcoming in of natural light. Upward-facing Velux windows become possible once the upper floor is properly extended and the main floor pushed out beyond the confines of the original footprint. If a second-storey extension is permitted in your plans, an internal void can bring natural light from the top floor downwards, and vice versa.
Chiswick Architects In our clients words
We wanted to renovate our house in a conservation area in central London. Given this involved a complete demolition and new build with an extra floor on top, getting planning approval was always going to be tricky. Scenario did an amazing job on the new house 'envelope' and throughout the planning phase. We couldn't have wished for better from them and having succeeded in gaining planning approval owe them a very big 'thank you'. 
Scenario designed a kitchen extension for us, and we are delighted with the results. The process was well organised, planned and delivered, and the whole team were a pleasure to work with. I would highly recommend them for their design, planning and project management skills. 
Worked with these guys on the internal development of our office. From start to finish they were great. They got what we wanted first time and really made working with them very easy. Their aftercare has been great too helping us deal with something that they were not involved with in the first place. Will highly recommend them to anyone. See all Google reviews
Working with Scenario Architecture
We specialise in domestic architecture on all scales and scopes. Our boutique studio in London offers a bespoke architecture service with a team of experienced, highly skilled architects to tackle your refurbishment, full renovation or new-build. Our RIBA Chartered Practice complies with the strict health and safety criteria of the Royal Institute of British Architects. More than a decade in the business has taught us that virtual reality and real-time visualisations are the most efficient tools for seeing through a project, choosing the right fixtures and fittings and simulating natural light. As such, we use innovative 3D design technology on all our projects. This Chartered Institute of Building case study features a Scenario project and demonstrates the great benefits of advanced 3D design technology for residential architecture.
We put our clients first, collaborating with them on drawings, detail design, planning, tender and construction. We aim to complete all our projects on time and to budget. If you are looking for an architect in Chiswick or West London, look over our online portfolio of residential projects.
In our client's words
Dalston is less a defined London territory than it is a neighbourhood of like-minded people. Roughly defined in the west by the A10, the city’s oldest Roman-dug road, it floats between Clapton, Hoxton and Islington. But more than its geographical location, it expresses itself with its liberal, tolerant, international attitude.
The working-class population that first settled here in the 19th-century, rippling out from the Regents Canal, converted farmland into industrial sites and small Victorian cottages. They were joined by immigrants from multiple countries and religions, together building up a modest community outside the confines of the City of London. After a postwar slump, the neighbourhood came alive toward the end of the last century. Artists began settling here, spilling out from Hoxton and Shoreditch, seeking inexpensive post-industrial workspace, artistic freedom and places to exhibit their art. As per the rules of gentrification, young professionals and families followed. They’ve transformed the old warehouses, factories and stables into appealing and spacious homes. And in the brownfields between them, architects have designed experimental contemporary homes, creating housing where none existed while pushing the boundaries of their craft.
Live-work spaces, purpose-built apartment blocks and modern terrace housing have sprung up among the historic brick and contemporary timber constructions, giving the neighbourhood a dynamic and unpredictable character. People of all cultures and brackets live side-by-side, and businesses are popping up to serve them. They combine to make Dalston an area of great potential, for people who seek a multicultural atmosphere and an unconventional lifestyle.
If you’re a fan of heritage housing, look to the streets radiating east off Stoke Newington High Street and Kingsland Road. Streets like Forest Road and Richmond Road, leading to Gayhurst Community School and London Fields, are chock-a-block with tall, broad Victorian family homes and repurposed factories. With the old brick and ironwork maintained, new residents are slowly fixing them up and maximising their potential. Further north, Shacklewell Lane, Sandringham Road and St Marks Rise are attracting new buyers to the grand tree-lined streets. Homes here rise to four storeys, many of them in need of an upgrade. Buyers seeking a fixer-upper, or a tired family home on which to put a personal stamp, would have lots of opportunity here. At the heart of this enclave sits St Marks Dalston, one of the largest neighbourhood churches in the country – larger in area than Southwark Cathedral. Its Gothic rose window and French-inflected tower, built a century ago, dominate the road.
Loft extensions are more of a rule than an exception in Dalston, as are side-return kitchen extensions. Local architects like Scenario are well versed in the expansion and renovation process here, and manoeuvre their designs successfully through the planning and heritage departments. The results are often stripped-back, light-filled versions of the original Victorian architecture, offering vast entertaining spaces and private nooks for growing families.
Further Reading
Commuters who only know Chiswick by the landmark Fuller’s Brewery off the Great West Road aren’t getting the full picture of this leafy enclave on the Thames. Fuller’s is a vestige of the long local tradition of brewing, due to bumper barley crops close to a source of flowing water. The mix of rural and village life has long attracted people here, to the join the fishermen based down at the river.
Like many London neighbourhoods it began with a church – in this case the Gothic, gas-lit St Nicholas’ church – serving a small, low-rise village of family cottages on narrow brick streets. Unlike many London neighbourhoods, however, the village atmosphere has hardly waned. Modern Chiswick is an amalgamation of similar low-rise villages with very light development throughout the 20th century. Not even the office buildings of Chiswick High Road, nor the two major thoroughfares running across the peninsula have done much to dent its charm.
South of the Great West Road are the oldest streets with their mix of sober dark-brick Georgians, broad Arts and Crafts family homes and flamboyant Victorians with frilly iron detail. They lead out toward the Thames, which around here is edged by flowering bushes and mature trees, wisteria and lilac and visited by Canada Geese. An oblong island in the river beyond Chiswick Mall is an overgrown nature reserve, green all year long. Any new housing looks to the past for inspiration and blends in reasonably well. Wealthy citizens over the past few hundred years built grand manors within easy reach of the Thames, most of which have been demolished but serve as inspiration for an affluent community. The surviving Palladian villa Chiswick House is like a European escape beyond the bustle of the M4 motorway, with gilded state rooms, sumptuous wallpapers and a heavenly central dome. It once belonged to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, big landowners in the area.
The slow lifestyle in Chiswick today features river-walks following Strand-on-the-Green, park escapes and meals in the heritage, high-ceiling pubs on the High Road. Settle into one of the shady streets south of the High Road and an architect well versed in updating period homes can open up, expand and renovate your red-brick Victorian or mock Tudor. Many of these terrace and semi-detached houses have set the local trend with double-height rear extensions, expanded kitchens, sun rooms, loft conversions, basement conversions and side-return extensions. Many more have opened up a dated layout to make better use of the historic bones. Spend a day discovering the neighbourhood’s ins and outs to get a better idea of the local traditions.