O'Sullivan Skoufoglou builds "quiet yet present" garden studio in Highbury

A low brick base carrying a lightweight timber structure: that's the whole architectural proposition of the garden studio O'Sullivan Skoufoglou Architects has completed in Highbury, London, for a filmmaker and artist couple.

The studio sits at the end of the leafy garden of a Victorian home, a position the architects chose deliberately. Siting it there preserves the views from the house across the mature garden, avoiding what the studio called "compromising the sense of depth and continuity of the landscape".

The clients get a calming, well-lit workspace with a strong visual connection to the outdoors. Their neighbours, presumably, get very little to look at.

What did the architects want the building to do?

Co-founder Amalia Skoufoglou was blunt about the brief's balancing act. "It was important that the building felt distinct from the house while sitting comfortably within its setting, a short walk from the rear garden door," she told Dezeen.

"The intention was to create a building that felt quiet yet present in the garden, rather than competing with it or the Victorian house," she added.

Scale and placement do most of the work. "The form allows the quality of the space to emerge through its proportions, construction and relationship with daylight," Skoufoglou continued. "Its modest scale and subservient position give the studio the character of a garden building."

How do the materials reference the site?

The material palette and the low profile were designed to complement the existing house and garden while keeping visual impact to a minimum.

The brick plinth does double duty. It nods to the brick boundary walls of the Victorian home and pays homage to Victorian glasshouses, which were traditionally supported on low brick walls.

Above it, the lightweight timber structure was chosen, in Skoufoglou's words, to "allow the upper part of the building to remain visually light". The studio reads as a descendant of the glasshouse, minus the glass obsession.

What's inside the workspace?

The plan is simple: one main open workspace and an adjoining bathroom. The focal point is a built-in desk that runs the length of the main east-facing window wall.

"The main window wall and the built-in desk form the focus of the interior. The desk runs alongside the generous east-facing windows, making daylight and the changing garden views an integral part of the working environment," said Skoufoglou.

"This arrangement brings the working surface into direct relationship with natural light and views of the garden."

The structure stays honest inside. The timber is left exposed at roof level and the brick plinth remains visible, while the walls between are lined with painted pine. Smaller windows frame views of trees while keeping privacy from neighbouring homes.

According to the studio, the "grain of the timber, the texture of the brick and the changing daylight combine to give the space its character".

The project joins a growing London genre of backyard workspaces, including Shou Sugi Bangers, a timber music studio by Unknown Works, and Gardenhide Studio, a hempcrete workspace by Commonbond Architects. Highbury's version makes its case with proportion and daylight rather than square footage.