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      Hitzig Militello sets restaurant within historic Buenos Aires home

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      Repurposed materials and decadent accents come together in this Buenos Aires restaurant and bar that fits within a historic house overhauled by local studio Hitzig Militello Architects.

      Named Moshu Treehouse, the restaurant was built within a two-storey home in the Palermo neighbourhood, near the architecture studio’s main office.
      Moshu features raw materials and playful accentsThe neighbourhood is one of the older areas of the city and has a wealth of existing structures such as this one.
      According to the architecture studio, traditionally, these Argentinian houses are built around a courtyard, which becomes the main gathering area for socialising.
      Hitzig Militello designed the restaurant in Buenos AiresHitzig Militello Architects wanted to replicate this experience by creating a new courtyard area at the entrance that preserves the original facade of the home.

      In addition to marking the arrival into the restaurant, this feature is intended to facilitate carry-out orders and outdoor dining.
      A local Moshu tree planted in the courtyard gave the project its name.
      It features both indoor and outdoor dining”Our first major design strategy was to create an access courtyard immediately adjacent to the facade as both a symbol and shock effect,” said Hitzig Militello Architects.
      This new access courtyard allows visitors to enter the restaurant in two different ways: into the primary courtyard or up a set up stairs to access the second floor.
      “This allowed for a new facade with a language of its own, the core idea behind it being the preservation of the old style of the main facade,” it added.
      The facade is made up of a grid of windows with wooden shuttersPart of the courtyards facade is made up of a grid of windows with wooden shutters, which also cover the entrance to the indoor aspect of the restaurant. These are operable and can be opened up to capture the breeze, or closed in bad weather.
      They are slightly angled and offset from one another, creating a dynamic and irregular composition.

      Hitzig Militello Arquitectos combines two homes in one building in Buenos Aires

      The restaurant itself is laid out on two levels, with a cocktail bar upstairs and a terrace at the back of the building. The interiors preserve many of the raw finishes from the existing home.
      “The interior architecture language is one of vernacular composition of the typical demolished industrial style,” they explained. “Surrounding them is a run-down, abandoned house where the dry vegetation has taken over,” they added.
      Accent walls made of different sizes of tubes that form an archwayHitzig Militello Architects also added some playful features to the interiors, such as accent walls made of different sizes of tubes that form an archway.
      The ground floor contains a bar, and a variety of dining rooms set up inside or within small courtyards exposed to the sky.
      Upstairs is a large, decadent barIn total, the restaurant offers 240 square metres of interior space and 90 square metres uncovered.
      Upstairs is a larger bar, which spills out onto a terrace overlooking the front of the building.
      It spills out onto a terraceAn exterior stair leads from this upper patio directly to the street-facing entrance. Depending on the restaurant’s hours of operation, the upper floor can be reserved privately for events.
      Hitzig Militello Architects was founded in 2006 and also has offices in Miami.
      Buenos Aires has seen a number of renovations and additions to its existing building stock. Other examples include a home from the 1930s that underwent a “subtle” renovation by Torrado Arquitectos, and a self-designed office by Studio Nu that is set within a former auto mechanic’s shop.
      The photography is by Federico Kulekdjian.
      Project credits:Concept design: Arch. Vanik Margossian, Arch. Dolores GayosoConstruction documents: Arch. Vanik MargossianManagement: Arch. Marcela Bernat, Arch. Vanik Margossian

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      Diseño Norteño completes concrete apartments with lattices in Tijuana

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      Mexican studio Diseño Norteño has created a multi-storey residential building that features an earthy colour palette and frontal lattices that provide privacy.

      The project, called CLNS 12401, is located in Tijuana, a city located along Mexico’s border with the United States.
      CLNS 12401 is located in TijuanaThe building was constructed in a transitioning area, historically dominated by single-family homes, and it sits across from an abandoned park that is slowly returning to use.
      The building backs up to a steep slope, which led local firm Diseño Norteño to conceive the project sectionally, with the spaces becoming larger as the building reaches the higher floors.
      Diseño Norteño built the project across from an abandoned park”This resulted in a simple, four-level structure that is supported on its perimetral walls, generating a flexible, open floor plan,” the architecture studio said.

      “This building’s design allows higher density while maintaining a friendly, urban scale for the surrounding context,” it added.
      The staircase acts as a courtyardThe design comprises two blocks of habitations with an open stairwell between them. The staircase acts as a courtyard that helps promote neighbourly encounters.
      The architecture studio noted that the stairwell acts a pergola, regulating the amount of sun entering the public spaces and walkways.
      Concrete defines the apartment’s interiorThe building’s two bottom levels have concrete bearing walls, while the upper portion is made of concrete block.
      Facades are painted in hues of sage green and creamy white. Terraces are lined with metal lattices that provides privacy and a sense of safety.
      Facades are painted in hues of sage greenThe ground level contains the building entrance and garages, while the upper floors hold a total of six rental units. There are three different layouts, which are mirrored on each level.
      The first level’s units are 700 square feet (65 square metres), while the second and third levels are 1,00 and 900 square feet, respectively (93 and 84 square metres).
      “As the structure rises, the topography enables bigger units,” the architects noted.

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      In each unit, social spaces face the street and the park, while bedrooms are in the rear, next to the hillside. The uppermost unit has a spacious terrace that enables the public zone to flow outdoors.
      The architects said that simple materials, such as concrete and metal, helped keep costs down, which enabled the building to be accessible to younger residents in Tijuana.
      Simple materials helped to keep costs down”The building’s design breaks traditional urban development rules in favour of the people who actually live in the area,” the team said.
      Other projects in Tijuana include a house by Gracia Studio that has an exterior made of concrete and weathering steel, and a purple bridge by Legorreta that is meant to make crossing the Mexico-US border much quicker.
      The photography is by Lorena Darquea.

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      Jennifer Morden creates “aspirational” mid-century house with sinister dungeon for Fresh

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      Production designer Jennifer Morden created a mid-century house to reflect the personality of the flamboyant and misogynistic antagonist in comedy-thriller film Fresh.

      Morden and her team built two individual sets in a studio to represent the house for the film, which was directed by Mimi Cave and shot in Canada’s British Columbia.
      Fresh features a mid-century house that belongs to cannibal SteveThe sets were designed to portray the main floor and basement of a lavish mid-century house that forms a secluded lair for Steve – a seemingly-charming man who seduces women into dating him, after which he traps them in his basement and reveals that he is actually a psychopathic butcher of human meat.
      “We wanted to make as much as we could so we could customise it,” Morden told Dezeen in a video call from Canada, explaining the decision not to use a real house for the project.
      The dining room is positioned at the highest level on the main floorFresh tells the story of Steve’s relationship with Noa, who he briefly dates and subsequently lures to his house. The characters are played by actors Sebastian Stan and Daisy Edgar-Jones respectively.

      “The choice to go with a mid-century style house was partly because right now it’s really popular,” said Morden.
      “People love mid-century houses and they’ve had a big resurgence in modern design. It was also about Steve looking aspirational.”
      Dark wooden cabinetry was included in the kitchenOn-screen, the rooms on the house’s main floor are presented at subtly different levels from each other in what Morden called a “hierarchy of spaces”.
      A dining room is seen on the highest level, a kitchen slightly lower down, and then a living room and finally Steve’s bedroom.
      Plush furniture such as 1970s Camaleonda sofas by Mario Bellini and Eames-like armchairs decorated these spaces and were set against harsher accents including dark wooden cabinetry and built-in concrete seating.
      A curved basement informed by fallopian tubes holds women captiveThe other set representing the basement featured a concrete floating staircase dug out of rock, which leads to dungeon-like, teak-lined hallways that descend to cells with sunken beds where women are held captive.
      Steve’s operating room forms the basement’s lowest level, where he harvests the imprisoned women’s meat and body parts.
      “Wherever we see Steve in relation to his victims, he’s always at a higher level to them,” explained the production designer.
      Steve’s operating room is located at the bottom of the basementSteve’s house intends to reflect his complex and powerful persona, which quickly transforms from outwardly normal to sinister as the drama unfolds, according to Morden.
      “I was like, okay, everything we do needs to involve body parts, in some capacity. Every piece of artwork, every piece of furniture and the way the hallways are designed.”
      Imagery of body parts is repeated throughout the filmTo illustrate this idea, the production designer and her team placed a Michel Ducaroy “body chair” in Steve’s bedroom and created faux herringbone flooring from pieces of painted, hand-laid plywood, which Morden said she “really wanted to feel like ribs”.
      The curved, cave-like basement was informed by fallopian tubes and designed to be a grand auditorium for Steve – a “crazy” idea that Morden pitched in her interview for the project.
      An abstract painting conceals items belonging to Steve’s victimsAn abstract painting was placed on the living room wall, which actually included hair, teeth and nails on closer inspection. In an early scene, upon arriving at the house before she is drugged and trapped, Noa studies the artwork.
      It is later revealed that Steve hides personal items belonging to the captured women behind this painting in boxy cubby holes that mirror the basement cells below.
      Wooden and concrete accents feature on the main floor and in the basement”Mimi wanted to use the piece of artwork as a little Easter egg [a term for hidden messages in a film] for later because it’s the first thing Noa sees and she’s drawn towards it,” reflected Morden.
      “The idea was that if we can draw everything back to body parts then we can start to create the story’s subliminal messaging and foreshadow what’s to come as much as we can.”

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      The production designer said that it was important to visually connect the main floor to the basement, which was partly achieved by adding wooden elements to the mainly concrete basement and concrete elements to the largely wooden main floor.
      Eventually, Cave and cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski had the idea to add vivid and humorous sunset murals to the walls of the women’s cells.
      The decision to incorporate colourful carpets became natural after this, linking the basement to Steve’s opulent quarters above, according to Morden.
      Kitschy holiday-like murals were added to the cells to reflect Steve’s obnoxious nature”The idea was, what if we made the basement this space that Steve thought he was gifting to these people?” she explained, referencing Steve’s obnoxious and flamboyant character.
      “What if we use the idea that this misogynistic and unaware male was like, ‘I’m going to create a room that’s going to feel so nice for my victims?’ What would he put in there?”
      Each of the women’s rooms has a different coloured carpetCinematographically, Fresh also has a warm and fleshy colour palette of reds and oranges throughout, which nods to its graphic storyline.
      “I think for me, the biggest thing is just telling people to find all the Easter eggs in the film. There’s so much repeated imagery, especially around body parts,” concluded Morden.
      Other recent film and TV productions that feature architecturally-centred set design include Oscar-winning The Power of the Dog and BBC drama The Girl Before.
      The images are courtesy of Jennifer Morden.
      Project credits:
      Director: Mimi CaveWriter: Lauryn KahnProduction designer: Jennifer MordenSet decorator: Stephanie AjmeriaSet designers: Peter Stratford and Amanda De CastroCinematographer: Pawel Pogorzelski

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      Galerie Philia presents design exhibition informed by Le Corbusier at Cité Radieuse

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      Galerie Philia has unveiled Héritages, an exhibition at the Le Corbusier-designed Cité Radieuse building featuring work by designers such as Rick Owens that respond to the Swiss-French architect’s theories of modernism.

      Héritages presents work by eight international designers and seven visual artists that reference the modernist theories pioneered by Le Corbusier, whose designs are known for their functionality and minimalism.
      A daybed by Arno Declercq features in the “resonances” room. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirGalerie Philia joined forces with the Parisian arts magazine Eclipse to curate the exhibition at Le Corbusier’s iconic Cité Radieuse building in Marseille, which includes a range of both design and art.
      Spread across two rooms in an apartment, the exhibited designers respond to the theme of “resonances” with work that is heavily influenced by Le Corbusier’s theories, while the artists are guided by the theme of “dissonances” and present work that opposes the theories.
      Fabrice Hyber created an oil painting for the “dissonances” space. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirIn the first room, a brutalist yellow chair by Italian designer Pietro Franceschini is displayed alongside other work, including a geometric bronze candlestick crafted with clean lines by Californian fashion designer Owens.

      “For the ‘resonances’ room, I selected sculptural designers that are deeply influenced by Le Corbusier,” Galerie Philia co-founder Ygaël Attali told Dezeen.
      “Le Corbusier’s theory, especially in his writings published in the 1920s, was provocative and militant both in his refusal of decoration without functionality, his industrial-inspired aesthetic, and his clear and marked difference between fine arts and design.”
      A brutalist yellow chair by Pietro Franceschini features. Photo is by LodoclickAlso featured in this space are pieces such as a chunky daybed by Belgian designer Arno Declercq crafted from patinated and raw steel with sheep’s wool.
      Contrastingly, the “dissonances” room includes pieces by artists that intend to question Le Corbusier’s theories. For example, artist Flora Temnouche created three abstract oil paintings featuring organic or curved forms with soft lines.

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      “Le Corbusier’s theory almost denies a particular relationship with nature,” Temnouche told Dezeen. “My paintings show the inertia of the plant, diminished under the influence of humans.”
      “I was inspired by the idea of this meager relationship that persists despite everything in Le Corbusier’s work and theories.”
      Jojo Corväiá designed a table using volcanic clay. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirOther works in this room range from an eclectic table by visual artist Jojo Corväiá crafted from volcanic clay and an ethereal, blown-glass light sculpture by Jérôme Pereira.
      “All of the works in one way or another are an answer to Le Corbusier’s theoretical and aesthetic heritage, either as a mark of resistance or a touching homage to his legacy,” concluded Attali.
      The exhibition intends to echo its location. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirHéritages takes place until July at Le Corbusier’s modernist housing complex Cité Radieuse to coincide with the building’s 70th anniversary.
      Galerie Philia is an international contemporary design and art gallery with locations in Geneva, New York City and Singapore.
      Previous Galerie Philia exhibitions include a show that presented Latin American and European sculptural design and an exhibition of furniture by emerging Italian designers created in response to the work of Owens.
      The photography is by Lodoclick and Maison Mouton Noir.
      Héritages takes place at Kolektiv Cité Radieuse, Unité d’Habitation Le Corbusier, Marseille, France, until 2 July 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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      New Practice brings warmth and colour to Glasgow's century-old Kinning Park Complex

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      A historic community centre that was saved from demolition by activists – including Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon – has been given a new lease of life by architecture studio New Practice.

      New Practice founders Becca Thomas and Marc Cairns opted for a light-touch approach in the renovation of Kinning Park Complex, a century-old former school building in the southwest of Glasgow.
      A new roof dotted with skylights makes the building weather-proof againAlthough the building was in a poor state, with an extremely leaking roof, faulty electrics and a broken heating system, the Glasgow-based architects’ approach was to save as much of the existing structure and interior as possible.
      They adopted a reuse and recycle strategy, while also making subtle changes that improve the building’s functionality and accessibility.
      Pink denotes the community space on the first floorThe revamped interiors are animated by a system of colour-blocking, which helps to ensure the building can be easily navigated by people of all literacy levels.

      “One of our key aims was to keep the building feeling familiar,” explains Thomas in a video about the project.
      First-floor workspaces are picked out in yellow”Lots of people have hugely strong memories and love for the building and we didn’t want to change that too much. By taking this adaptive reuse approach, we just kept the building feeling like itself and tried to elevate that,” she said.
      “Every choice to remove something original has been taken only where we absolutely needed to remove that, for the safety and for the future of the building.”
      Kinning Park Complex was originally a school buildingKinning Park Complex first became a community centre after the school closed down in 1976, but looked set for demolition when the council announced plans to close it in 1996.
      Local residents and campaigners, including a then-25-year old Nicola Sturgeon, staged a sit-in to protest the closure. After 55 days, the council agreed to let the community take over the building’s running.
      The building stayed in use for another two decades, but over time its problems became hard to ignore.
      A reconfigured ground floor features a large community kitchenThe trustees, led by local resident Helen Kyle, approached New Practice after seeing Many Studios, a creative hub that the architects created in a converted Glasgow market hall.
      The challenge was not only to refurbish the building but also to help support the community’s ambition to buy the property, by improving opportunities for income generation.

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      Thanks to government and lottery funding, the architects were able to plan a full overhaul of the interior in collaboration with engineering firm Max Fordham.
      The roof was replaced as sensitively as possible, while the interior layout was gently adjusted to make room for a lift.
      A double-helix staircase, originally sub-divided, has been opened upThe atrium, which was once subdivided to separate boys and girls, is now opened up. The result is a space that feels generous and bright, thanks to the skylight overhead.
      Three floors of classroom and office spaces have been adapted for a range of uses. A community kitchen can be found on the ground floor, while the second level has become a co-working space.
      The building was taken over by the community following a sit-in in 1996″A key decision that we had to make was to ensure that the work that we were doing in the building didn’t sanitise this rich, abrasive history of activism and community-led dialogues and debates,” said Cairns.
      “We really tried to keep that at the forefront of our thinking.”
      Original wood floors have been rejuvenatedFlexible partitions allows the ground- and first-floor halls to be easily subdivided if required.
      Other spaces include a quiet room that could be used for anything from prayer to breast-feeding, and a series of small studios and workshops.
      The restored handrails are painted in the same burgundy they were in the pastRealising the project in the context of the pandemic proved a challenge. With the architects unable to be on site all the time, they found it difficult to fully realise their ambition to reuse as much as possible.
      Thomas and Cairns recall coming to site to find elements such as doors and balustrade railings had been thrown away by builders, despite their instructions.
      Nonetheless there are still plenty of recycled details to be found, including a framed patch of original wallpaper and a series of storage cabinets built into the walls.
      Original details, like a patch of ageing wallpaper, are celebratedThey hope the building can help to become a positive example of adaptive reuse, particularly in light of the COP26 environmental conference that recently took place in Glasgow.
      This sentiment is echoed by Sturgeon: “The challenge of refurbishing and imagining a building like this, for decades to come, is fantastically dynamic for the architecture and design industries,” she said.
      “We just took it for granted that buildings would reach the end of their natural life and then they would sort of fall into dereliction, and thankfully communities decided that that wasn’t going to happen. So we’ve learned how to reimagine things for the future and preserve for the future.”
      Photography is by Will Scott. Video is by Pretend Lovers.

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      Yinka Ilori gives London studio colourful revamp

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      Designer Yinka Ilori has collaborated with British architect Sam Jacob to give his London studio and office a bright revamp.

      Ilori worked with Jacob to transform the standard industrial-style unit into a bright and lively flexible workspace.
      Yinka Ilori collaborated with Sam Jacob to redesign his studio”We wanted to rethink what an artists’ studio is and look at how we could experiment with space to create a flexible and multifunctional environment that could respond to the different needs,” Ilori told Dezeen.
      “Yinka’s brief at the outset was a really great question about what a designer’s studio could be: how it could be a place to create but also a place to share, to host and to communicate,” added Jacob.
      Ilori’s office space is largely pinkEntirely painted in the bright tones often used within Ilori’s installations, furniture and artworks, the space is divided into three distinct zones.

      These areas, which will be used as an office, exhibition area and archive with a kitchen, are divided by curtains and sliding doors so that they can be combined into a large space.

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      “The aim was to create distinct areas in the space, and we did this using different materials from solid walls, sliding doors, felt and translucent curtains so that there is a flexibility in the way the space can be arranged,” explained Jacob.
      “Plus the way Yinka uses colour has a real effect on the definition, organisation and feel of space.”
      A transparent curtain divides two spaces”We wanted the studio to have distinct zones but at the same time be able to open or close spaces to create privacy,” explained Ilori.
      “We’ve used a number of translucent and solid curtains as well as large sliding doors to my office which means all the spaces can feel connected or we can separate different areas out,” he continued.
      “We’ve also used colour to define the function of the space so my team and my work area is dominated by pink, while the communal spaces and display spaces use blues and yellows.”
      Ilori’s office is accessed through a pair of sliding doorsOverall, Ilori believes that the collaboration with Jacob has resulted in a unique office that makes the most of the space.
      “Sam and I have quite a lot of common ground in terms of our design aesthetic so it was a really interesting experience to be able to share our ideas,” he said.
      “We were both able to see things through the others’ perspective and specialism which is what has resulted in us creating something really quite unique.”
      Furniture is stored in the archive space”We spent a lot of time discussing the space together to see how we could make it work for me,” he continued.
      “It was through those discussions that we were able to shape the design to make sure it was as practical as possible and could really function as a contemporary studio.”
      Ilori recently created a colourful maze-like installation for the V&A Dundee and designed a rainbow-coloured basketball court in Canary Wharf.
      Jacob’s recent projects include London’s Cartoon Museum, an events space for the ArtReview magazine and a contemporary neolithic shelter in Shenzhen.
      The photography is by Lewis Khan.

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      Space Caviar creates “liquid landscape” inside Uzbekistan pavilion at Venice Art Biennale

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      Italian studio Space Caviar has constructed Dixit Algorizmi: The Garden of Knowledge, an indoor garden with reflective steel steps for the Uzbekistan pavilion at this year’s Venice Art Biennale.

      The installation at the Uzbekistan National Pavilion mirrors the interiors of the Quarta Tesa, an old shipbuilding warehouse at the Arsenale – one of the international contemporary art exhibition’s two main sites.
      Dixit Algorizmi: The Garden of Knowledge is the country’s first pavilion at the Venice Art BiennaleThe layout of the 500-square-metre garden is informed by the garden at the House of Wisdom, an academic centre in 9th-century Baghdad where medieval scholars, including the renowned Persian mathematician Muhammad al-Khwarizmi, studied.
      Visitors at the 59th Venice Art Biennale can walk across the shiny floor of the installation and sit on glossy steps around what resemble traditional water basins.
      Space Caviar drew on the forms of historic Islamic gardens”Gardens are very important in the tradition of Islam and the Arabic tradition in many parts of Central Asia,” said Joseph Grima, co-founder of architectural research studio Space Caviar.

      “While today we’re accustomed to thinking of buildings and enclosed spaces such as research labs and universities as the space for the production of knowledge, in the days of al-Khwarizmi, gardens were typically the points of encounters, of discussion,” Grima told Dezeen.
      The pavilion is inside the Venice ArsenaleSpace Caviar constructed the interiors of Uzbekistan’s first pavilion at the Biennale in Venice from pine wood and sheets of stainless steel, which Grima chose to create the illusion of water.
      The material choice also means that when the installation is dismantled at the end of the seven-month-long Biennale, the steel can be melted and turned back into metal sheets once again.
      Stainless steel covers the floor”Stainless steel was chosen to create the effect of walking on water — one of the perceptions that you have when you are inside the pavilion is that you are in a liquid landscape,” Grima explained.
      “This was one of the effects that we wanted to achieve with the pavilion, we wanted to create a landscape that was kind of a miracle, that suggested a dream more than a literal garden,” he added.
      “We see it as a technologically augmented landscape in that sense.”

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      Throughout the Venice Art Biennale, the Uzbekistan pavilion will host a program of workshops and public events on the history of technological development in art with digital artists such as Andrés Reisinger.
      Visitors will also be able to listen to Uzbek piano compositions against a backdrop of floral sculptures and hanging clouds of sea lavender by Berlin-based Studio Mary Lennox.
      The steel will be melted into sheets and reused when the pavilion is dismantled”We tried to transform our pavilion into an Islamic garden so that visitors could sit by the water, listen to various sounds, smell the air and enjoy the botanic installation,” said Gayane Umerova, executive director of the art and culture development foundation under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
      “The Islamic garden is a place of rest and reflection par excellence, it provides means for contemplation through sensory experience – aromas, plants, water,” she told Dezeen.
      “Undulating waters and ambiguous lines together with plants and smooth surfaces offer a meditative yet contemporary attitude to the interior of the pavilion, bringing together traditions and new technologies,” she continued.
      Bunches of sea lavender hang from the ceilingGenoa-based Space Caviar was founded by Joseph Grima and Tamar Shafrir in 2013. The studio focuses on the intersection between design, technology, critical theory and the public space.
      Previous projects have included an algorithmic journalism machine that produces magazines on the fly and an exhibition at Biennale Interieur that explored how perspectives on the home have changed over time.
      Last year Grima took part in the Dezeen 15 virtual festival, where he proposed a new type of non-extractive architecture that conserves the earth’s resources.
      Photography is by Gerda Studio.
      Project credits:Curation: Space Caviar and Sheida GhomashchiCommissioner: Gayane Umerova
      Venice Art Biennale takes place from April 23 to November 27 in Venice. See Dezeen Events Guide for up-to-date details of architecture and design events around the world.

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      Studio McW carves up “post-lockdown” London home extension with darkened oak joinery

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      Umber-coloured oak joinery divides the interior of this end-of-terrace home in London’s Willesden Green, which has been extended and refurbished by local architecture firm Studio McW.

      The two-storey Aperture House now features an additional pitched-roofed volume at its rear, that can be accessed via the main home or a second, less formal entrance set at the side of the property alongside a small planted courtyard.
      A darkened oak cabinet sits under Aperture House’s pitched roofThe residence’s owners, a journalist and a psychiatrist, worked from home throughout the coronavirus lockdowns of 2020 and grew to dislike using their kitchen, which was visually cut off from the rest of the house and the outdoors.
      They tasked Clerkenwell-based Studio McW with establishing a more versatile “post-lockdown” extension that can be used for cooking, dining, working and entertaining.
      The cabinet transitions into low-lying cupboards in the kitchenStudio McW’s approach sought to find a middle ground between a more sequestered layout and a vast, open-plan space, which can often feel impersonal according to the firm’s director Greg Walton.

      “I think lockdown has certainly compounded the failures of modern open-plan living,” he told Dezeen.
      “Open-plan layouts offer little privacy and occupants can feel a bit lost in the room. Residential architecture needs to work harder to meet new demands.”
      Walls throughout the extension are finished in plasterIn the case of Aperture House, this is achieved using blocks of dark-stained oak joinery. The largest is a cabinet, which is nestled beneath the eaves of the roof and acts as a divider between the external entryway and a small dining room.
      At its centre is a rectangular opening that offers a place to perch and remove shoes on one side, while in the dining area it acts as a reading nook and an additional seat when hosting larger gatherings.
      “By using joinery to break up the spatial layout you have the opportunity to create, in the same room, separate spaces to eat, cook, welcome visitors and relax whilst still maintaining a form of connection,” Walton said.
      In front of the kitchen there is space for a lounge areaThe cabinet transitions into a low-lying oak cupboard in the kitchen, which allows residents to rustle up meals while keeping the garden, guests and each other in sight.
      To the side of the kitchen is a series of taller oak cabinets, interrupted by another nook where small appliances like the kettle and toaster can be tucked away to keep the counters free of clutter.
      Just in front of the kitchen, Studio McW made space for a lounge area where the owners can retreat to work or relax during the day.
      Another opening in the joinery provides room for small appliancesRather than installing glass doors all the way along the home’s rear facade, Studio McW opted to front the extension with a pivoting glazed panel.
      “I think the ubiquitous sliding or bifold doors across the rear of a London terrace are becoming an unromantic ideal,” Walton explained. “They don’t offer places for respite and repose, there is no shadow or play of light.”
      “In this house, openings in the new extension are set back within deep, angled brick thresholds, which are designed to focus views and draw in light at specific times of the day.”
      The extension is fronted by a pivoting glass doorAnother example of this is the off-centre skylight that punctuates the extension’s roof and casts shafts of light into the plaster-washed interior.
      “Just like in photography, the apertures in a property affect focus and exposure,” Walton said.
      “Often, the act of bringing light into a home is interpreted as putting in as many windows as possible. But in doing so you create all the characteristics of an overexposed photograph.”
      The door is set within an angled brick recessA growing number of homes are starting to reflect the effects that the coronavirus pandemic has had on people’s lifestyles.
      Earlier this year, the co-founders of Studiotwentysix added a plywood-lined loft extension to their own family home in Brighton to make room for more work and rest areas. With a similar aim, Best Practice Architecture recently converted the shed of a Seattle property into a home office and fitness room.
      The photography is by Lorenzo Zandri. 

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