New-Build Studio, London
Client: Private

Design: Cassion Castle Architects

Occupying a small plot and bound on three sides, the building is a studio for a product designer. Due to the rugged environment of the street, we decided to employ a ‘stealth’ tactic and create an anonymous exterior. With this in mind, the external envelope seamlessly continues the brickwork of the adjacent buildings. On second glance one realises that this building is in fact something different from its neighbours: the bricks have been laid with intermittent gaps in an uneven scatter.

On entering the front door one is surprised to discover that you are in a 'vertical coutyard' within the brick envelope but still in the open air. Here the scattered gaps in the brickwork become pinpoints of light. The studio spaces are stacked next to this space and accessed from it. The studio floors are made of steel grating to maximise light penetration.

The experience and appearance of the building will transform at night. If occupied after dark the scattered slots will glow like a constellation, whilst inside the open roof reveals the night sky.

The project has been exhibited at the RIBA.