Stepped Studio

Project description

The new studio is set against a backdrop of beautiful mature trees. The garden is a stepped landscape of terraces, retaining walls and large planter beds constructed from granite setts and graphite clay bricks.

This project was a collaboration between us and J&L Gibbons Landscape studio. It was completed in summer 2022.

This small building is part garden wall and part green roof with a fine grid of glazing separating the two. The roof is held up by 4.5mm bespoke steel T columns painted red. These columns also double up as windposts, reducing the amount of steel used in the project.

The studio is set into the landscape, meaning that it just peeps over the existing garden walls. The corrugated metal porch is deliberately and lightly placed on the structure; a reference to more rudimentary garden sheds.

Bi-fold doors open the room out into the garden, with lush planting and a small brick patio creating an intimate series of spaces slightly tucked away from view.

The ceiling and parapet are both clad Douglas Fir plywood, stained white internally and dark grey externally. Materials are left exposed throughout with no plasterboard or paint used, creating a robust palette of materials that reference both traditional english glasshouses and garden potting sheds.

The same robust brick is used for the walls of the studio, the patio, garden steps and retaining walls, blurring the lines between the garden and the building. The walls of the studio step from patio level to the height of the garden wall, creating a variety of views to the garden. When viewed from outside, a strip of mirror above the brickwork along the boundary reflects the garden into the space.