Petra Heights: World's First High-Rise Supported by Stone Exoskeleton
Architecture firm Groupwork, in collaboration with engineer Webb Yates, has unveiled Petra Heights, located at 317 Finchley Road in north London. This housing project is touted as the first high-rise globally to utilize an unreinforced stone exoskeleton. Comprising three blocks that rise between six and ten stories, it features 22 apartments alongside a retail space on the ground floor. The structure's stone framework, crafted from Sicilian basalt and Norwegian larvikite, negates the need for concrete cores and steel reinforcements, resulting in a carbon footprint that is 32% lower than that of a similar reinforced-concrete building. The materials were obtained from quarries in Sicily and Norway. Groupwork's founder, Amin Taha, financed the endeavor by selling his home and office, aspiring to create a model for sustainable housing to meet the UK’s goal of 1.5 million new homes by 2029.
Key facts
- Petra Heights is a housing development at 317 Finchley Road, north London, by Groupwork and Webb Yates.
- The building is held up by an unreinforced stone exoskeleton, a world-first for a high-rise.
- It consists of three blocks, six to ten storeys high, with 22 apartments and a ground-floor shop.
- The stone frame uses Sicilian basalt and Norwegian larvikite, with no concrete core or steel reinforcement.
- The building's carbon footprint is 32% less than a comparable reinforced-concrete structure.
- The stone exoskeleton could be scaled to a 30-storey skyscraper with an 80% emissions cut.
- The lift shaft was prefabricated from stone modules and erected in a day and a half.
- Groupwork and Webb Yates plan to go carbon negative in a future Hackney development.
- The project was self-financed by Amin Taha, who sold his home and office in Clerkenwell Close.
- Photography is by Tim Soar.
Entities
Artists
- Steve Webb
- Amin Taha
- Tim Soar
Institutions
- Groupwork
- Webb Yates
- Ateliers Romeo
- Lundhs
- Dezeen
Locations
- London
- United Kingdom
- Finchley Road
- Sicily
- Italy
- Norway
- Clerkenwell Close
- Hackney
Sources
- Dezeen —