Office S&M’s house for two graphic designers makes use of playful colours and shapes to build on the client’s predilection for Art Deco motifs.
Bold forms and striking colours abound — this is nothing new for London-based studio Office S&M. The practice has cut its teeth with playful designs awash with colour, adding joy to clients’ homes since its founding in 2013 – and ‘Graphic House’, as its name tantalisingly suggests, continues that trend.
The project sees the transformation of an Edwardian house in Hackney, with colour and Art Deco forms defining spaces throughout and also suppling a narrative for the building’s past.
Yellow has been used to frame windows and doors — new openings that have been carved into the building to let the sun in and filter through the house. Meanwhile, mint green has been used to accent new additions, being used on the ground floor for kitchen units and the walls of a downstairs loo, as well as garden wall to the rear of the property.
“The interiors of the toilet and coat cupboards are painted in a bright Dulux Bongo Jazz, a vivid peach, creating an immersive colour experience that contrasts with the minty green,” said the architects. “When the doors are ajar, the colour spills out into the hallway, creating intrigue and surprise.”
Circular forms — windows and mirrors — have been strategically incorporated throughout the dwelling to penetrate its walls. Certain circles possess transparency, enabling the passage of light, exemplified by the expansive kitchen window. Conversely, others serve as reflective surfaces, bouncing and amplifying light.
Existing walls that have been restored are left bare as exposed pink plaster, acting as a tonal intermediary, most notably in the kitchen-dining room between the white ceiling and wall, and bright red fittings such as an extractor fan and hanging lights.
Further graphical elements can be found throughout the house, overlapping between different levels, as can be seen with an oversized stair that draws the eye upwards from the staircase and to the floors above. At the same time, reflective circles that span multiple levels reflect daylight across the ground floor and hallway overhead.
Within this staircase area, these circular mirrors and glossy paint not only reflect light, but also fashion fresh perspectives and visual arrangements that come into view while navigating the area.
Back in the kitchen, which is north-facing, a large oculus in the wall projects a circular path of sunlight that traverses the space, chronicling the passage of time and the changing seasons. As this circle of sunlight emerges, it heralds the arrival of spring; disappearing to mark the onset of winter. Here, worktops have been made from recycled plastic cutlery melted down to create hardwearing kitchen surfaces.
The new colours added to the house contrast with what has been maintained in the property, like parquet flooring and an Art Deco fireplace which has become a feature in the living room – a space which feels much more rooted in history compared to the rest of the property, thanks also in part, to a retained stained glass window clearly from the era. In doing so, the use of colour, particularly the bold colours used here, functions more architecturally than as a simple aesthetic amplifier, defining and demarcating spaces within the house while guiding one through it, and time, in the process.
Credits
Architect
Office S&M
Contractor
Hanway Design and Build
Engineers
SD Structures
More images and drawings
Source: Architecture Today