A built-in “cupboard of curiosities” housing a set of data, books and artworks types the backbone of this outhouse extension in London by native studio Neiheiser Argyros.
Named Exeter Highway Pavilion, the venture concerned changing the Victorian outbuilding within the backyard of a north London residence into an annexe for the shopper, an artwork collector and DJ, the place they might home their assortment and host gatherings.
Neiheiser Argyros mentioned it selected to strategy these necessities as “a single architectural downside quite than two separate duties”.
The studio created a 20-metre-long built-in storage unit, described as a “modern cupboard of curiosities”.
Starting as wardrobes reverse the sleeping space, this cupboard extends to turn out to be the housing for a kitchenette and a space for storing for data, artworks and books throughout the dwelling space.
As soon as within the adjoining patio, the cupboard homes weights, a ping-pong desk and backyard video games whereas additionally performing as a structural ingredient, supporting a steel-framed cover topped with sheets of corrugated polycarbonate.
“We began the venture imagining the design as a type of cupboard of curiosities, or wunderkammer, the place a seemingly random assortment of unrelated objects is collected and saved, permitting the customer to curate their very own connections and classes,” the studio’s co-founder Ryan Neiheiser advised Dezeen.
“We needed the cupboard to be each opaque, to create a quiet and unifying gesture within the area, and clear – subtly revealing the curious objects contained inside.”
A protracted hall alongside the cupboard connects the inside Exeter Highway Pavilion, creating an open connection between the lounge, research and sleeping space, which sits subsequent to an enclosed lavatory.
The entrance of the cupboard has been completed in perforated metal.
This has additionally been used to create giant doorways within the backyard space and smaller compartments within the dwelling area, alongside quite a few wood-lined niches for open storage and show.
For the backyard cover, one of many nook columns was eliminated and changed by a block of inexperienced marble and stress rods that counterbalance the construction, representing what Neiheiser phrases the “codependence” between the venture’s makes use of.
“There is a sure magnificence and effectivity within the storage immediately supporting the cover, however we additionally needed to introduce one thing a bit sudden; a productive stress between them, holding them in relation by way of a way of precarious steadiness,” Neiheiser mentioned.
“On this, we had been impressed by the work of artists Fischli & Weiss, significantly their photographic sequence depicting rigorously poised on a regular basis objects, caught within the fragile immediate earlier than collapse.”
“There’s a provisional codependence between the completely different parts of the venture – current outbuilding, storage cupboard, cover, structural column, and plinth,” added Neiheiser.
Elsewhere in London, Neiheiser Argyros beforehand prolonged a Victorian terrace with a stained timber extension topped by a backyard terrace.
The studio additionally used perforated metallic to disguise London Underground vents on the faceted North Greenwich Sculptural Display.
The images is by Lorenzo Zandri.
