Studioshaw . photos: © Henry Woide
This project was a collaboration between Studioshaw, Studio 54 Architecture and J&L Gibbons Landscape Architecture studio. It was completed in summer 2022.
The project looked to add a new type of living space to the 1970’s modernist house, which was extensively remodelled and extended by Studio 54 Architecture as part of the project.
The studio is set against a backdrop of beautiful mature trees. The garden, designed by J&L Gibbons, is a stepped landscape of terraces, retaining walls and large planter beds constructed from granite setts and graphite clay bricks.
This small building is part garden wall, part green roof, with a fine grid of glazing separating the two. The roof is held up by 4.5mm thick steel T columns that are painted red. These columns also double up as windposts, reducing the amount of steel used in the project.
The studio is set into the landscape, meaning that it just peeps over the existing garden walls. The corrugated metal porch is deliberately tacked on, a reference to more rudimentary garden sheds.
Bi-fold doors open the room out into the garden, with lush planting and a small brick patio creating an intimate series of spaces slightly tucked away from view.
The ceiling, upstand and parapet are all clad Douglas Fir plywood, stained white internally and dark grey externally. Materials are left exposed throughout with no plasterboard or paint used, creating a robust palette of materials that reference both traditional english glasshouses and garden potting sheds.
The same brick is used for the walls of the studio, the patio, garden steps and retaining walls, blurring the lines between the garden and the building. The walls of the studio step up from patio level to the height of the garden wall, creating a variety of framed views out to the garden. When viewed from outside, a strip of mirror above the brickwork along the boundary reflects the garden back into the room.
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