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Highpoint One, Highgate, was designed by Berthold Lubetkin and his practice Tecton – originally as housing for Gestetner Typewriter Factory employees. It was completed in 1935. The structural engineer was Ove Arup who, with contractor J. L. Kier & Co, deployed an innovative system of reinforced concrete construction. Highpoint One is a Grade 1 Listed Building on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

A pocket-sized space in this remarkable modernist building is transformed into a convenient studio apartment with the insertion of a series of fine maple-veneered cabinets to contain shower, wc, storage areas and a bed-space like the berth in a boat. These structures touch the original fabric very lightly and maintain the distinction between the new and the existing. 

The project recalls the Existenzminimum experiments of the original architect and his contemporaries, such as the Wells Coates flats at nearby Lawn Road in Hampstead. 

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Photographs by Nerida Howard.