London, United Kingdom

Two industrial designers required a place to live and work, as well as a sanctuary that could help them escape from the bustling city. The perfect location was found on a very constrained site in an industrial alleyway that runs parallel to Bethnal Green Road, a busy shopping street in London.

Design concept and solution: The building is designed to minimize views so as to create a sense of shelter from the outside world. The studio and living spaces are arranged as two interlocking L-shaped forms, with a balcony overlooking the studio carved out of the bedroom wall. Bound on three sides by two-story party walls, from the street the building is expressed as a foreign object “wedged” into the existing structures. The design provides a bold counterpoint to the disheveled alleyway but the pared down neutrality of materials and anonymity of the entrance minimizes intrusion.

The whole design is expressed as a series of block-like forms and carved-out spaces, starting with the street façade, which is expressed as an elegant double-height glass box overhanging a painted ground-floor entranceway, which is set back to create a threshold to the alley. The studio entrance folds back completely, opening the studio space onto the alley. When closed, the building is shielded from the outside entirely, with light filtering in from the north-facing clerestory window and a light well at the southern end. You have to ascend the stair to the upper floor terrace to regain a sense of your location in the city.

The interiors of the studio and house are crystalline white, providing a blank canvas for the interplay of light and shadow.

Total construction cost:
Withheld

People

Architect
Cassion Castle Architects
Unit 5
51 Derbyshire Street
London
E2 6JQ
020 7739 8266

Engineer:
Wright Consultancy Group

General contractor:
Cassion Castle Ltd. (Architect and Contractor)

Photographer
Keith Collie
+44(0)7951 066 544

 

Products

Structural system:
Structural steelwork from Hy-Ten

Roofing
Fibre glass roofing:
FRS roofing / topseal

Windows
Wood:
Bespoke manufacture on site.

Glazing
Glass:
supplied by Pilkingtons. Fitted by CC.

Skylights:
Glazingvision
velux

Doors
Entrances:
Beechway Joinery
Hafele sliding gear

Hardware
Locksets:
SDS London

Interior finishes
Cabinetwork and custom woodwork:
Beechway Joinery

Paints and stains:
Interior Spray Finishing
Dulux

Wallcoverings:
Special surfacing:
Terrazzo worktop by Quality Marble

Flooring
Resilient flooring:
Jaymart Flooring

Lighting
Interior ambient lighting:
Cold Cathode Tubes by Neon Circus
Architectural Tubes by Osram

Plumbing
Underfloor heating by Nu Heat