ADJAYE ASSOCIATES

This converted warehouse in Shoreditch houses two art studios and a top floor living space. The majority of openings in the factory have been reused but the balance between solid and void has been altered in favour of solid by extending the walls upwards to form a parapet on the top floor. The owners needed purpose designed studio space as well as a home but to avoid any sense of tedium through living and working in the same environment, the two types of accommodation are quite separate and their spatial organisation completely different. The studio spaces occupies the

volume of the older building in an en filade arrangement. Tinted reflective glass helps retain the privacy of the studios. On the top floor, the living space holds a central position and is surrounded on three sides by a timber-decked roof terrace and the main bedroom.

The interior organisation is reflected on the exterior in the contrast between the floating plane of the roof and the solidity of the studio walls. The effect is heightened by the light colour of the roof and by the dark, anti-graffiti paint on the external surfaces of the lower levels of the building.

source: Adjaye Associates