Zone Architecture Studio

The studio provides space for Zone Architects and three other artists. The building was developed by the practice on a steep leftover piece of land in Granton.

The architects wanted the building to carry a memory of the nineteenth century built articulation the local area, a reminder of Victorian industrial buildings which are now being removed, and for the building to offer some urban coherence within an sub-urban condition. The context is a mixture of 19^th and 20^th century housing stock and gardens on the coast edge.

The building is conceived of as an elegant workshop/shed, which sits behind a pronounced masonry boundary wall. The plan of the building is simple: a single-storey rectangular volume with an offset, which forms an entrance from the street and allows light in and seaward views out from the meeting area.

A retaining wall at the lower level creates two further rooms in the underbuilding, which address more intimate garden spaces. The character of the main ground floor studio is defined by clerestory lighting from the south, a north facing strip window to the sea, and the rhythm of timber roof joists/ exposed timber soffit, which continue over the entrance and meeting areas.