Dominic McKenzie Architects

We’ve worked with Dominic McKenzie Architects on the renovation of our Grade II listed house in Islington. In the initial design stage, we were delighted with Dominic’s ability to carve out inventive details within the confines of listed building requirements while keeping sight of the needs of a comfortable family home. Afterwards, Dominic steered us through an extremely complex planning process (made more difficult by COVID), which culminated in a successful appeal, one of several he has achieved in the area. Now we are six months into the build; not only have Dominic and team supervised everything flawlessly, but he continues to provide suggestions for details of the house well beyond what we would have expected at this stage. We are immensely grateful for his dedication. Dominic has clearly built a deep bench of talent at the studio, and we have been very fortunate to work with Petia Ivanova. Petia is a spectacular architect; she helps us think through the uses and flow of space, while keeping an eye on the details that make the end result beautiful and functional. She is deeply attuned to the brief (and budget), but often pushes us to consider options outside our comfort zone. When Petia gives a recommendation, it is clear that she has taken the time to think through all possible angles. As a client, it is an enormous relief to work with someone like her whose judgement you can trust absolutely. We cannot recommend Dominic, Petia, and the team at DMA highly enough.

Dominic and team did an excellent job on a refurb of our Victorian house. We wanted to keep the house’s historic features while expanding the bathroom and master bedroom. Dominic came up with solutions we hadn’t thought about and the final result feels original and fits perfectly with the house.

We are in the midst of mud and all the complications of a Covid crisis, but even now I can see the glimmer of a stunning design emerge. We are revitalising my family home, an Arts and Crafts house, whose décor was stuck in the 1970’s. The extension will be a beautiful light filled space using materials that reference the existing building, but at no point trying to compete with it. We are really enjoying working with Dominic and excited to see his impressive scheme becoming a reality.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our experience working with Dominic on the re-imagining of our 3 bedroom apartment on the top floor of a semi-detached Victorian townhouse in a North Kensington Conservation area. We wanted a more open plan living space that allowed the light from both the windows to the front and rear aspects of the house into it. We also wished to utilise the attic space above, not so easy as the pitch of the roof is relatively shallow. However, Dominic listened, and most importantly heard, and then realised, all of our needs and hopes in the design plans for our new home. This has culminated in a light and modern design that includes... our new master bedroom and ensuite in the attic, a mezzanine study area that looks out across a double height entrance hall, through a new window, to the trees and gardens beyond, all bathed in light from the 3 large conservation roof lights above. In the living area Dominic has worked his magic and we will now have a wonderful open plan space, perfect for entertaining family and friends, which also visually ties in the roof terrace, previously hidden away and accessed via the old bathroom! All these changes still respecting the traditional period features of the house as a whole. Dominic and his team have made the whole experience very straight forward, with clarity of creative thought and clear communication. We have already recommended Dominic McKenzie Architects to others and shall continue to do so.

Excellent service & professional. Obtained planing permission for me following a previous refusal & an unsuccessful appeal submitted by others. Would recommend.

I am the fortunate owner of Eidolon House, which Dominic remodeled from top to bottom. He is an incredibly creative and thoughtful designer with a real ability to understand what the client wants and how to bring out the best in the project. He is also a lovely man and was an absolute pleasure to work with. We were both delighted when the house won a Sunday Times award and is regularly featured in magazines and TV design series.

I first discovered Dominic's work when I saw his own home renovation featured in The Evening Standard in 2011 which I kept for the day when I could finally proceed with my own home extension. The kitchen was a dark lower ground floor space with no relationship to a small outside terrace and steps to a reasonably large but practically unnoticed garden with a large old Oak tree close to the house. Dominic came up with a fantastic design to extend, open up and merge the garden with the kitchen whilst working within the constraints of a narrow semi-detached house and tree. The new space is a sociable open-plan kitchen with floor to ceiling metal doors/windows and two long, narrow skylights to allow in light but retaining privacy. The new dining area has a higher ceiling to visually separate the old from the new, with the extra volume giving a greater feel of space accentuated by a clever wall of mirror with a concealed door retaining access to the side way. Matching internal metal doors allow the kitchen to be closed off from the rest of the hallway & house. Again, matching metal glazing has been used in a ground floor room to tie in the new extension with the other floors. The result is a wonderful, modern, well used, interesting space that is a pleasure to spend so much time in and crucially is unlikely to look dated in the future.

We have worked with Dominic and his team on several projects over a number of years, building from his comprehensive drawings. Dominic is a creative visionary, who isn’t afraid to push design boundaries while always keeping the best interests of the client in mind. He is 100% committed to all his projects and is quick to attend site to help find solutions to construction issues if and when they arise. All Done Design Ltd can confidently recommend Dominic McKenzie Architects, to both other builders and to home owners looking to transform their home into a truly amazing living space. We look forward to working with him and this team again in the future.

We have worked with Dominic through our New End - Hampstead project where we proposed a semi-detached 3 bed luxury home which has been recently granted approval. He designed a fantastic house that blends in the environment perfectly well, yet offers amazing architectural features. Once built, the house having his signature will be an asset to the historic, precious and beautiful Hampstead Village.

Dominic McKenzie has been the lead architect for a project brief to maximise the potential for a difficult site in Islington. He has created an excellent plan to replace an existing older building comprising a retail premises and one five bedroom flat with a completely new block fully utilising the available site comprising four high quality two bedroom flats and a retail premises which will enhance the area when built. He has helped to steer through the long and arduous planning process, which we hope is very close to fruition at time of writing. This has included liaison and coordination of multiple third party consultants and professionals, and I have never been less than satisfied with the quality of work and service provided. I would be happy to recommend his services for those searching for excellence.

we have had a long and arduous journey towards being able to renovate our Grade 2 listed property in Islington. We are now ready to commence work! Throughout the process Dominic has been positive, resourceful, practical and creative. He combines a strong creative approach with a willingness to collaborate in order to get a great outcome. We look forward to working with him on the next phase of the process.

I used DMA to obtain planning permission for a two storey small house on a left over brown field site in a conservation area in Dalston. DMA offered a very ingenious design solution for what was essentially a very tight and tricky site. The Practice's particular strength is contextualising the design to fit with utmost sensitivity in its historic surroundings, while retaining the appearance of a modern building true to its time. DMA also champions sustainability and innovative building techniques, which are holistically integrated into the design process. I was so impressed with DMA that I also used the practice for a kitchen extension on a Victorian Terrace in Stoke Newington, currently going through planning.