00:05This is a home for two well-known London-based artists. The owners have local studio spaces for
00:13their own art-making practice with a lot of vibrant use of colour. So their home,
00:19in contrast to that, was to be relaxing and tonally muted. One material was used throughout
00:26it to create a coordinated light surface tone. Another way of providing that continuity was
00:33to create multiple zones with movable elements which are reconfigurable within one studio apartment space.
00:46My name is Anna Parker. I'm an architect and founder of Intervention Architecture based in Birmingham in the UK.
00:56This apartment is located in Charterhouse Square in central London. The building was constructed
01:03between 1935 and 1937 and has a striking curved facade inlaid with critical windows. And it's an
01:11iconic Art Deco building which is featured as the fictional home and office setting for Agatha Christie's character Poirot.
01:21The building was always residential with the ground floor originally including a public restaurant,
01:27cocktail bar and club in the basement. The existing studio layout space was very similar in plan to now,
01:37as we had to retain the existing structure due to the listed status of the building. The apartment is 24
01:45square metres.
01:46They wanted the apartment to be inventive whilst also maximising storage. During the works we had to retain all the
01:55structural walls.
01:56New joinery was added to the main space to include wardrobes, a murphy bed and a desk.
02:02In order to enable an oven and full size hob within the kitchen space we had to reorient the layout
02:10and provide a smaller sink zone.
02:12For the bathroom and separately for the kitchen doorways we introduced bi-folding plywood doors.
02:28Upon entering the apartment the vestibule area has open shelving to store shoes and keys.
02:36Also in this area is enough space for a cloakroom which also conceals a consumer electrical unit.
02:45The frontages are floor to ceiling in mirror to help make this small space feel bigger.
02:54In approaching the design of the main space we had the existing parameter of the beautiful main window
03:01arrangement which has custom bi-folding plywood shutters and existing heating underneath.
03:08To complement this we placed the desk area closest to the window with the library shelving connected to this.
03:16There's also a pull-out seat and stool on wheels in the workstation zone.
03:23The workstation has a drawing board which can pivot up for use and it's also got drawers integrated within it
03:31for paperwork storage.
03:34The library storage shelving has round arch panel features to reference the three curves to the front entrance facade of
03:43the art deco building.
03:46The plywood is waxed on ends to give colour differentiation.
03:50The joinery within the main space is multifunctional.
03:54It takes from a japandi style with art deco referencing and provides a holistic layout for storage.
04:03And taking inspiration from flat pack furniture, the joinery uses CNC routing technology and is drawn to precision in advance
04:13to cutting, minimising waste and time in the production process.
04:18To enable the studio space to be as flexible and adaptable as possible, the bed is integrated within the main
04:28joinery wall.
04:29It's a Murphy bed foldable system and it's on a special piston so that it's very easy to pull down
04:37and has a soft open and close.
04:41The movable sofa is used at the foot of the bed to help support it.
04:47You can also use the flat pack stools to support it to enable the sofa to then be used as
04:52a sofa bed.
04:54Behind the bed is an adjustable headboard zone with book shelving behind and a zone to hide away the duvet.
05:01Within that main joinery there's also cutouts for bedside lamps, light switch, sockets and there's also spot lamps for reading
05:13in bed.
05:15A key objective within the studio space was to reduce the visual aspect of clutter through considered storage.
05:23Within the main space there's floor to ceiling storage as well as wardrobes framing around the entrance doorway.
05:32At high level we've included marmolium inserts to reference that art deco arch and there was also varying
05:40types of ad hoc shelving which required a curation to feel more considered and integrated.
05:51The dining table is a flat pack approach in a simple cross x shape mechanism and that means
05:59that the client can then entertain and have friends around. Underneath the sofa there are flat pack stools
06:07and that is also a very kind of easy way of providing extra seating. You could easily fit around six
06:15people
06:15around the dining table when it's put into place. The legs can be fully taken off and stored away into
06:24the joinery wall itself. The wall opposite the library is floor to ceiling wardrobe and clothes. There is an
06:34area of chamfered shelving to connect back to the door entryway and also provide additional storage.
06:43storage. The doorway to the kitchen was previously a curtain and now has a bifolding plywood door.
06:52From entering into this space you're saturated with this blue finish. This provides a surprise from the
07:00lighter main space to provide a fun pop of colour.
07:06We've integrated a dishwasher, fridge freezer, full size oven and hob as well as a skinnier sink and tap
07:17location. The exhaust fan is also self circulating due to building management issues we couldn't create
07:25any changes to the exterior walls. The fabricator also came up with a brilliant idea to include a
07:34corner bin within a dead use zone of the countertop.
07:39To complement the black appliances we proposed a Corian countertop which was black but had these speckles of
07:48gold and different flecks of interest. Below the sink is cabinetry storage and spice rack.
07:57Overall we gained much more storage and the client is able to enjoy cooking with many more integrated appliances.
08:08For the bathroom due to the art deco plumbing which we couldn't change all of the existing positioning of
08:16sanitary ware had to be retained all of which were replaced except for the towel rail which is an original
08:23feature.
08:24The new bathtub is a Japanese style tub so it's much deeper and the bath frontage we actually tiled in
08:34the same finish as the floor and walls. To the bath itself there's a bi-folding screen so that when
08:43it's
08:43not in use it can be folded back against the wall. The overall look and feel of that space is
08:50meant to evoke
08:52the new art deco ship cabin. It's functional but then also has this romantic blush pink.
09:00Fortunately within the main building amenity space a laundry zone is provided so that meant that we didn't
09:08have to integrate any utility appliances. We approach small spaces as though we're solving a puzzle.
09:17how to maximize the floor area and to get as much concealed storage within that.
09:25Taking on a smaller space and refurbishing it, making it your own, it's really important I think
09:31to have that element of fun and you can still create stylish functional homes that have a real lasting legacy.
09:39using the bitters I want to connect at this point and add to the square footage.
09:40That's what we gonna start doing.
09:40So, let's have to do the same thing.
09:44All of us, check out what the house, check out the floor of the house, and check out what the
09:46house.
09:46I want to be here.
09:50I want to see you guys to come back today, we're going to see.
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