Garden House
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Kilian O'Sullivan Download Original
A striking stepped roof garden is the highlight of this two-level live-work building for a leatherworking costumier.
On the site of a single-storey workshop itself built in the mid-1990s, Whitaker Malem wished to create a new home and studio that maximised the space and natural light available within its tight, north-facing site behind Victorian terraced housing in Hackney’s De Beauvoir Conservation area. The most obvious feature of the new structure is its ziggurat-like roof, stepped with triangular-sectioned, stainless-steel trays holding several hundred sedums, heathers, flowers and herbs.
There is a living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor; above them, under asymmetrical roof pitches, are a workroom, office, and small bathroom. The irregular envelope of Garden House is the product of two conflicting requirements: the need to protect neighbours’ rights of light and internal visibility with controlled outlooks; and the desire to bring natural light into the building in the most effective and interesting ways.
At Garden House, Hayhurst and Co has imagined and produced naturally lit spaces of quite distinct characters.
Data
- Begun: May 2014
- Completed: Mar 2015
- Floor area: 99m2
- Sector: Residential
- Total cost: £305,000
- Procurement: JCT MWD 2011
- Address: 27 Buckingham Rd, London, N1 4DG, United Kingdom
Professional Team
- Architect: Hayhurst and Co.
- Client: Whitaker Malem
- Structural engineer: Techniker
- Main contractor: Woodbar Ltd
- CAD software used: Vectorworks