Claire & Tom's home

Claire & Tom originally wanted to create space for Claire, a clinical neuropsychologist, to work from home. The garden studio provides another habitable space with west facing afternoon and evening sunlight, while concealing the cracked grey blockwork walls of the neighbouring workshop behind.

The studio was designed to fit into and add to the formally and materially rich context of suburban back garden outbuildings. The studio was sunk a few steps below ground level to settle it into its surroundings and minimise the impact of its height. The steps, patio, built-in planting bed, and low level plinth walls are all constructed with in-situ cast concrete. The timber-framed walls above are clad with dark green painted profiled steel cladding sheets and the shallow mono-pitched roof is covered with sedums.

The wide glazed door is of lacquered oak and the window is of yellow powder-coated aluminium, adding to the ad hoc character of the building. A deep, dark grey stained timber canopy provides solar shading and support for a hammock seat for coffee breaks. The floor is covered with blue terrazzo patterned rubber sheet flooring suggested by that in local Victoria line underground trains. The walls and ceiling are lined with oiled birch plywood and these materials continue through the house refurbishment.

The garden studio has become invaluable while Claire was on maternity leave with their two daughters at home during the coronavirus pandemic, in enabling Tom, a building services designer, to also work from home too. The studio offers a potential model for adding work spaces to existing terraced houses in response to the increased demographic trend for people working from home.

Annual CO2 emissions data (requested in kg/m2/year) was not provided.