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London studio Bureau de Change has created an Athens store featuring intricate metalwork and an asymmetric window for Greek jewellery designer Nikos Koulis. Occupying a 1960s building on Voukourestiou Street, the flagship store takes cues from Nikos Koulis’ geometric jewellery designs. The shopfront features an asymmetric window and aluminium details Greek architects Katerina Dionysopoulou and […] More
London studio Bureau de Change has used different varieties of terrazzo to create a richly textured interior for a remodelled family home.Frame House is a Victorian terraced home in south London, renovated and extended by Bureau de Change for a property developer and her family.
The ground floor of Frame House is split over three levels
The project involved adding a rear extension, converting the loft and completing revamping the interior. But most importantly, the client wanted to give the home a distinct character and coherency throughout.
The architecture studio achieved this with a carefully planned colour and material strategy, and through playful use of geometry.
The lounge occupies the extended rear of the house
“The brief was to create a coherent journey through all spaces and floors,” explained architect Billy Mavropoulos, who co-founded Bureau de Change with partner Katerina Dionysopoulou.
“We needed a holistic design, looking at everything from the architecture of the extension, to the layouts and the way the spaces are used, down to the joinery handles and details,” he told Dezeen.
“The client was after a rich palette of finishes and colours, but one that would feel consistently part of the same narrative.”
Different varieties of terrazzo were chosen for different areas
As is common with Victorian terraces, Frame House has a split-level layout that helps to make the floor plan more efficient.
In the new layout, the ground floor is divided over three levels, comprising the kitchen, dining space and lounge. The two split-level upper storeys contain three en-suite bedrooms, a separate bathroom and a study room.
Terrazzo was the material that Mavropoulos and Dionysopoulou chose to unite the various spaces. It is a material the pair are familiar with, having previously used it in another residential project, Folds House.
Different shades of taupe feature on each of the ground floor levels
Here, they decided to work with different varieties of terrazzo to give each space its own character, while subtly tying them all together.
On the ground floor the flooring is a taupe terrazzo in three slightly different shades – one for each level. This creates a gentle transition from light to dark, starting with the kitchen at the front of the house and ending with the lounge at the rear.
A green marble terrazzo was chosen for the staircase handrail
“We chose them very carefully so that they are all of the same family but vary in darkness/density,” said Mavropoulos.
“The colour difference is very subtle as we did not want the floor to take over. But when you look closely you notice the difference.”
Other details have been picked out contrasting terrazzo varieties: a kitchen island features shades of red and black, the staircase handrails are a green marble terrazzo, and each bathroom has its own different shade.
The master bedroom on the first floor features an en-suite with grey terrazzo
The geometries of the design are based around the rear extension, which gives the occupants a large living space.
Keen to avoid the 45-degree angled roof and frameless glass typical of infill extensions, the architects opted for a more cuboidal approach. Steel frames create staggered glass boxes, which Mavropoulos and Dionysopoulou liken to museum display cases.
The new loft bedroom features an en-suite with pale terrazzo and pink walls
“When we looked at the cascading volumes in plan and section, we felt there was an element of fragility to them, almost like a jewel stone, so we decided to make them out of glass to enhance that feel,” said Mavropoulos.
“These distinctly cubist glass volumes are articulated through their bold steel-frame construction, expressing each edge in a manner that creates shifting patterns of light and space, and a paradoxical sense of both levity and solidity,” added Dionysopoulou.
The terrazzo also extends into the garden, forming cascading planters
These cascading box forms are referenced in other places, such as the proportions of the split floor levels, or the planting boxes in the garden. There’s also a glass display case in the dining area.
Other details contribute to the personality of these spaces. The lounge room brings together a floral-patterned rug and a large cactus plant, while the dining space features a wall of shelving filled with various objects and books.
The architects hope the result is one of “theatre and tactility”.
Photography is by Gilbert McCarragher.
Project credits
Architect: Bureau de ChangeInteriors: Bureau de ChangeEngineer: SymmetrysM&E: MWLContractor: Argyll LondonLandscape: Tulip Landscapes
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Bronze laser-cut sheets wrap around the lift shaft that extends up through this building in central London, which has been updated by architecture studio Bureau de Change.The elevator links together all four floors of The Gaslight, a mixed-use development that’s been created within an art deco building in central London’s Fitzrovia neighbourhood.
Originally constructed in 1929 as offices for the now-defunct Gas, Coke and Light Company, the building has recently been completely renovated by dMFK Architects to include a series of bright, airy rooms.
Bureau de Change was tasked with developing the interiors, which are meant to have a contemporary feel while still showing hints of the building’s art deco heritage.
“We enjoy working with existing buildings, transforming them for a new purpose but doing it with a kind of nostalgia at the heart of the designs,” said Bureau de Change’s co-director, Katerina Dionysopoulou.
“It was a pleasure to explore these ideas for The Gaslight and ultimately enrich a building so that it can take on a new meaning.”
The Gaslight building is accessed via a lobby that’s illuminated by a trio of large spherical pendant lamps.
At its centre is a striking lift. The shaft of the lift is made from concrete which Bureau de Change has wrapped in two layers of bespoke bronze sheeting.
The first bronze sheet is flat and has been laser-cut to feature an intricate art deco-inspired pattern. Laser cutting has also been done to the second bronze sheet, but this has been folded to feature concertina-style pleats.
Layered over each other, the sheets create a moiré effect that obscures the concrete underneath.
The second pleated bronze sheet turns at a 90-degree angle to clad the underside of the lobby’s stairs. This eventually “peels off”, leaving just the flat bronze sheet to cover the lift shaft on the building’s upper levels.
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“Industrial materials and fabrication techniques were therefore explored in a more artisan-like manner, with laser-cut bronze panels folded to create an intricate framework,” added the studio’s co-director, Billy Mavropoulos.
The white terrazzo that covers the floor and stairs of the lobby has also been used to line the lower half of the building’s bathrooms and hallways, a modern interpretation of the wooden panelling that the studio thinks would have appeared in the original building.
Surfaces have otherwise been painted in cool grey or sage-green tones.
Some of the glazed partitions in the building have been overlaid with shapely patterns that match the cut-outs on the lift shaft.
Other unique details include the building’s entrance door handles, which have been hand-carved with a series of grooves. The Gaslight’s address number has also been shaped into the metal spokes that run along the top of its restored front gate.
Bureau de Change is based in Clerkenwell. The studio has previously created a barn-style home in the Cotswolds with an ombre-effect timber facade and added a texture brick building into a century-old London terrace.
Photography is by Gilbert McCarragher.
Project credits:
Architects: dMFKInterior architects: Bureau de ChangeStructural engineer: Michael Hadi AssociatesM&E engineers: WB ShielsProject manager: Alford PorterQuantity surveyor: Alford PorterMetal fabricator: John Desmond
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