Riverside House and Ceramics Studio

Mike Tuck Studio were commissioned in 2015 by a Cambridge-based ceramicist to design a new building in two parts. The first is an extension to an existing late Victorian end-terrace house to open-up the ground floor and provide a much-needed family kitchen and living area. The second is a new garden pottery studio for the client’s work away from her young family. 

The design is a call-and-return between the two structures and the larch-clad facades are a reflection of each other across the garden. The design responds to the client’s passion for craft and attention to detail and evolved into a pair of crisply detailed timber volumes. The space is conceived as a courtyard between the reflected facades of home and work and provides a private space for relaxation and play amongst dense streets of terraced houses.

The project's location just meters away from the River Cam meant that it was subject to possible flooding and Mike Tuck Studio worked closely with planners, building control and the contractor to implement flood mitigation measures including removable flood gates and new water-resistant concrete slabs.