Following a historic conversion, this four-storey mid-terrace property had been split to create a ground-floor garden flat and a larger apartment across the upper three floors. Having acquired the ground-floor property, our client, who occupied the upper floors, wanted to add an artist studio with direct access to the garden while retaining the ground-floor property for rental.

This required a complete reconfiguration of the ground floor and part of the first floor, with a new full-width rear extension added whilst retaining a small courtyard garden attached to the ground floor flat.

A triple-pitch roof allowed us to maximise internal ceiling heights and add volume without impacting the high-level glazing along one of the boundary lines.

External materials were selected in response to the complicated building form, with the stepped elevations wrapped in Shou Sugi Ban timber boards and the pitched roof in zinc metal cladding.

Internally, the exposed roof timbers express the roof’s geometry, while reclaimed pine boards provide a durable floor finish suitable for an artist’s studio. A large single-slope roof lantern brings natural light in from above, and corner-glazed picture windows frame views of the garden.