About us
Scenario has worked in and around North London since launching our boutique residential architecture practice in 2007. We’ve built up an extensive portfolio of completed work across Highgate, Archway and Muswell Hill. We consider the storied streets of Islington and Haringey our professional backyard.
We established Scenario with a uniquely collaborative process. We take a considered approach to our clients’ desires, placing their aspirations for a new, architect-designed home in high definition. The clients’ needs are the main drivers of our design.
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 Archway project
Archway Architects Your Archway project
Most building projects in Archway require approval from the local authority. Archway 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 an Archway-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 Archway project
We’ve had positive experiences working within Haringey, Islington and Camden councils and many successes securing planning permission for innovative home conversions and extensions. Our clients have largely come via referrals from our earliest commissions.
Our landmark project Scenario House was covered widely by the media and shortlisted for several prestigious architecture prizes – including the 2018 RIBA London Awards. It demonstrates our successful approach to domestic architecture projects.
If you are thinking about starting an architectural project in Archway, 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 Archway.
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 Archway project
Archway Architects Your Archway 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 Archway 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 Archway, 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, Archway 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.
Archway 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
Scenario Architecture is a boutique architecture studio focused on high-end residential projects across London and the Home Counties. Our bespoke architecture service tackles domestic projects of every scale and complexity, from interior alterations to full renovations and new-builds
Our highly skilled team can take you step-by-step through the challenge of designing your new space. We collaborate closely from the planning stages through tender, construction and the successful completion of your project. As a RIBA Chartered Practice, we comply with the strict criteria of the Royal Institute of Chartered Architects, covering insurance, health and safety and quality-management.
Early adopters of the latest technology, we use innovative 3D design and visualisation tools as standard on all projects. Our experience shows that real-time visualisations and virtual reality are the most efficient tools for choosing finishes and fittings, simulating natural light and saving our clients time and money. Our 3D building information modelling (BIM) technology produces reliable construction information, so all our project data comes from an accurate, coordinated 3D model.
This Chartered Institute of Building case study demonstrates the benefits of this advanced technology for domestic architecture.
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
Hampshire benefits from dramatic geography, unspoilt seaside and an almost inconceivably rich history, which combine to give the county an edge over most others in London’s orbit. Located upwards of 55 miles from central London, it sits within commuting distance of both the capital and the south coast, making it a great place to settle dowm, raise a family and retreat to nature. Residents get the best of both worlds: cosmopolitan living and an active, outdoorsy lifestyle.
Winchester, Hampshire’s county seat and one of its most significant cities, has been inhabited since before the Romans. The city rivalled London as the country’s most populous urban centre until just a few hundred years ago. It has since seen coastal towns like Portsmouth and Southampton pass it in size and scope. Yet all of the above maintain a great number of listed properties well maintained for contemporary living. The average household income throughout Hampshire remains steadily high, and locals are extremely house proud.
Drive around the Hampshire’s finest towns and landmarks, from Lymington to Southampton, Porchester Castle to the South Downs: you’ll find all manner of housing stock, from gingerbread cabins in the woods and clapboard seaside cottages to mock Tudor townhouses and sprawling brick Queen Anne estates surrounded by lawns. It would be difficult to find a similarly high calibre of real estate so close to London with the same natural surrounds and quality of life. Yet regardless of local vernacular and heritage red tape, Hampshire architects can tailor these historic homes to very specific, modern tastes. The great pool of Hampshire architects has kept them up to date, for the most part. The area of Hart, clinging to the River Hart just west of the Surrey border, recently ranked Number One in the annual Halifax quality of life study. The area combines proximity to city life with access to ancient countryside, outstanding schools and an active summer social calendar. The pretty towns of Lymington, Midhurst, Petersfield and Stockbridge regularly rank highly as well, for their lively markets, awe-inspiring architecture and protected wildlife. The reputation for fine building stock increases the demand for homes in and around these choice centres, so expect some competition if you plan to search here. If you persevere, chances are you will land a property with innate beauty and endless potential.
At some point, more or less two centuries ago, Archway skipped over the typical evolution that most London neighbourhoods follow and became somewhere from practically nowhere at all.
By virtue of its position – between Islington and Highgate on the ancient road north – this steep, leafy hill-rise seemed the perfect place to build a junction in the early 19th century. John Nash, at the height of his popularity, was anointed to design the viaduct connecting the east and west sides of residential North London at what is now Hornsey Road. It was named, aptly, Highgate Archway, and it bypassed the toll on the old road, now known as the A1 or Archway Road.
Nash’s engineering was replaced in 1897 by the current cast-iron version, designed by Alexander Binnie. But in the meantime, the area around it had become more accessible and, as a result, more desirable. Young families came to fill in the gaps between established neighbourhoods and a motorised cable car – the city’s first – popped up to help them get around. The Whittington hospital, named for the old Lord Mayor and philanthropist Dick Whittington, expanded to the west of Archway Road. And the area got its first Tube station in 1907. Between them sits the memorial Whittington Stone featuring a small statue of Dick Whittington’s fabled cat – and a pub of the same name.
Forming a stretch of the A1, Archway Road eventually widened to several lanes. The mitigating factor is that it’s a rather beautiful stretch. Heading down Archway Road from the north gives you one of the great views of London’s skyline, dominated by St Paul’s Cathedral and the Shard.
Much of the real estate around here benefits from similar views. Streets meander off Hornsey Lane into intimate enclaves where terraced and semi-detached houses peek over the hill-rise. The streets are blessed with mature trees and behind the terraces are larger-than-average gardens for what is essentially central London.
The housing stock becomes progressively larger and more family-oriented as you climb toward Highgate. Smaller midcentury terraces and estates with potential cluster around Archway Tube, with more gracious, more suburban enclaves benefitting from the top views. Either way, you get a surprising amount of space for your investment around here. Walk 10 minutes west and you’re in Hampstead; leap beyond the Parkland Walk (a boon to cyclists and joggers) and you’re in the thick of Georgian Highgate. And yet in Archway you get the bragging rights.
We have had a wealth of experience serving clients in Archway and beyond. If you’re considering purchasing a home in the area, or if you’re contemplating an alteration of your existing home, have a look around our online portfolio to see the potential we can help you realise.
