Italianoa sensory canopy to elevate urban living
Tucked behind the understated façade of our London mews residence, the new rooftop garden emerges as a light-filled, atmospheric extension of the home. It is a threshold where sky meets structure, and architecture meets the senses.
Daylight & breeze as material
In a city-centre context, sky is precious. Here, the roof terrace becomes an open room, framed by existing parapet walls, carefully levelled and waterproofed, and topped with glazing and open balustrades that invite both light and air. The terrace captures the west-facing glow of late afternoon sun, while welcoming a perceptible breeze from the neighbouring gabled roofs. In this way, the rooftop is not simply ‘outdoors’, but a finely tuned chamber of daylight, movement and sky-echo.
the stair and rooftop in dialogue
Our sculptural staircase, originally conceived as the vertical spine of the three-storey mews home, now extends its narrative: rising through the upper floor to emerge onto the terrace, its guardrail and landing precisely aligned to frame the view outward. This continuity ensures that the rooftop is not an afterthought, but the home’s final ‘room’ – fully integrated into the spatial rhythm and emotional logic of the retrofit.
sensory layers of material & planting
Materials were chosen for their tactility, acoustic quality and thermal comfort: warm timber decking underfoot, integrated linear drains that hum quietly in rainfall, and planting beds filled with a mix of Mediterranean and native species whose leaves whisper in the wind.
Overhead, a pergola of slender steel and timber slats filters light, casts dappled shadows, and offers a subtle sense of protection while maintaining an openness to the sky. At dusk, the lighting scheme, again developed with Viabizzuno, as in the earlier retrofit, transitions gently: uplights in the planting beds, soft downlights along the guardrail, and lantern-like pockets of glow recessed into the seating benches.
cultivating an edible roof
Beyond leisure, the terrace becomes lightly productive. A small edible garden brings herbs, salad leaves, and tomatoes in summer; a quiet gesture toward urban cultivation and circular living. Children can pick mint for tea; basil enriches summer meals; rosemary anchors the winter air.
It’s modest, intentional, and rooted in the belief that even in the city, cultivation restores rhythm, connection and care.
This garden is not ornamental; it is alive, useful, seasonal and sensory. A small ecology above the mews.
flexible living & rooftop ritual
This is not a showcase of materials, but an invitation to experience them: the warmth of timber under bare feet, the deep green of foliage at eye level, the cool trace of air moving across skin and leaf.
While the interiors of the mews house were reimagined for flexible living, ground floor studio, sliding panels, built-in bookcases (see earlier article), the terrace introduces new rituals: a morning coffee with the city below, an afternoon of reading beneath filtered light, an evening aperitif beneath the stars.
It invites both solitude and sociability, a rooftop solarium, garden room, or quiet observatory for thought.
linking performance + heritage
As with the retrofit below, the adjoining rooftop intervention honours the original structure while enhancing its performance and longevity. The waterproofing and insulation beneath the terrace deck ensure both comfort and durability; the planting strategy supports biodiversity, softens microclimate and embraces seasonal change.
By preserving the street-facing façade, we respected the architectural heritage of the mews; the rooftop now extends that legacy upward; allowing this compact home to stretch, breathe and open to the sky.
reflection
At PHA, we believe that architecture should engage all the senses; particularly in dense urban contexts. This rooftop terrace is not simply an addition, but the culmination of the home’s narrative: from hidden mews service building to light-filled family retreat, to an open-sky sanctuary.
It is where structure, sky and human ritual converge; an architecture of elevation, belonging and quiet joy.