Artist Studio - London

A studio refurbishment featuring glass floor to ceiling

Artistic Studio is located within the heart of what was a bustling artistic and bohemian community London, designed by Rodić Davidson Architects.

In the Victorian times, the status of the artist profession was improving and therefore many artistic hubs emerged across London.

This was one of the artist studios within London where many artists set up residence as well as artistic studio space. Many artists used this space including Augustus John, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Francis Bacon.

Now in the 21st century, the artists have long since gone however the artistic character of the building remains. The objective of this project was to create a contemporary family home that encompassed the raw character of the studio spaces.

The existing building featured many traditional architectural design elements including traditional steel-framed glazing systems. As with many traditional architectural designs, the building was designed with functionality at the forefront and limited decorative elements. This style of architecture has come back into fashion, celebrating textures, materials and rustic detailing.

Light and space are the main factors within this interior design, therefore many glazing systems were installed throughout the property to enhance the amount of light within the space.

The ground floor living spaces boast double-height ceilings with large glazed roofs for maximum light intake. The ground floor living space is an expansive open-plan design that has several stairwells leading the first floor and basement living spaces.

The interior design was intentionally planned to be minimalistic, loose and unrestrained. This arrangement creates open plan links between the rooms, the house and its surrounding which the homeowners love. This kind of open-plan design benefits greatly from various glazing installations, allowing the light to flood through from room to room.

 

The ground floor living space has been designed to maximise the influx of natural light within the space. Steel framed windows and doors were installed within this space to provide a nod to the history of the building with an artisan-style. Steel framed glazing has come back into trend over the past few years with many steel systems being installed both externally and internally. This chic detailing provides a sophisticated interior design to properties while allowing an abundance of light to flood into the property.

The external steel glazing installed to the ground floor of this property provides access out into the rear garden. The doors were designed within a fixed glazing arrangement to create a wide steel glazing installation. The opening steel doors were designed in a double door opening configuration to create a beautiful transition between the indoor and outdoor living spaces.

To the bathrooms in the basement, internal Mondrian steel sliding doors were installed to partition off the bathrooms from the surrounding bedroom quarters. These internal sliding doors help to further enhance the connection to the building’s history. The internal steel framed sliding doors boast beautifully slim steel sightlines to allow the natural daylight to continue to shine through into the bathrooms.

The Mondrian sliding doors were designed with a black steel frame to match the framing of the other glazing systems as well as the steel-framed staircase. This cohesive design creates an industrial style aesthetic to the interior, paying homage to the Victorian era that this building was constructed in.

 

Within the building, various frameless glazing systems were installed to allow the light to flow uninterruptedly throughout the property. At the top of the glass staircase, a large structural glass walk-on floor light was installed to enable natural sunlight to stream down into the living spaces in the basement rooms. This frameless glass floor adds a contemporary aesthetic to the interior design.

Alongside the walk on glass, frameless glass balustrades were also installed to the internal living spaces as safety barriers surrounding the top of the stairwell. These frameless glass balustrades are an outstanding addition to interior designs looking to maximise the aesthetics of the existing architecture. The glass balustrade stairs do not obstruct views at eye level and therefore enhance the aesthetics of the interior design and the existing architecture.

The structural glass floor was supported with a structural glass beam to maximise the minimalistic effect of the glazing. These glass beams are manufactured by laminating several panes of glass together to create a strong structural support that is often used to support roof glazing.

Frameless glass walls were also installed to partition off certain areas of the living spaces to add an aspect of broken plan living. These structural glass screens allow the natural light to continue to flow throughout the living areas while dividing the living spaces up without blocking the view of the whole ground floor.

To the basement living space, minimal windows® sliding doors were installed to create a central courtyard with an outdoor fire pit surrounded by internal sliding glass doors. This contemporary glass garden room / interior courtyard creates a beautiful outdoor living space in the centre of the property for ventilation and an indoor-outdoor living environment. The minimal window® sliding door system boasts impressive floor to ceiling elevations of glass with minimal framing to create a highly glazed finish.