Crouch End, London
Professional chamber musicians Richard and Penny sought to consolidate their end-of-terrace plot for home and musical life, requiring a freestanding music studio for teaching and practice alongside a new kitchen/dining extension.
The aim was to create a sequence of rooms enclosing a versatile garden space. Their angular forms emerged when considering the spatial/acoustic requirements for the musicians, sun paths and viewing lines. For acoustics, the studio has non-parallel walls which splay outwards and its doors can open to the garden to form a ‘stage’ for performances. The music studio roof pitches up towards a central north-facing rooflight, providing height for a standing violinist and minimising the potential for glare. In the kitchen and dining extensions the raised ceilings express the exposed structure and carefully negotiate original Victorian features, with rooflights bringing light deep into the plan.
Natural larch and zinc were used to distinguish new from old while still weathering to settle into the surroundings. Tapered roof seams express the geometry of the forms so that the facets flow around the enclosed garden.
Project Architect/Designer: Marco Curtaz
Collaborations: CDS, RK, Ellis & Moore, ID Systems