Case Study – Jonathan’s Studio

Case Study – Jonathan’s Artist Studio              September 2014

In September 2014 we built Jonathan’s artist studio. The brief was to build an artist studio, with a green roof. It was to be as large as possible within permitted development limits, in the back garden of our client’s home in Hackney.

Click on the images to see detailed larger images and to read about the build.

Brief: We were asked to design and build an artist studio with a green roof. It had to be as large as possible, within the space and permitted development limits. It had to have 8ft tall walls so the artist could work on large pieces.

Stage 1: After consultation a design is agreed on and the site is cleared. The studio will sit at the back of this lovely garden in Hackney.

The raised deck area at the back of the garden is removed and several tons of soil and brick has to be dug out to lower the overall height of the studio and lessen the impact on the neighbouring gardens. The raised bed against the back wall is moved back to create more space.

A new retaining wall is built from reclaimed railway sleepers and the ground is levelled. A 'raft' deck is built from pressure treated timber and set on padfoot foundations.

In this case we used 100mm timbers for the floor to maximise the internal height for large artworks. We added more foundation pads to reduce the span of these timbers so the floor would not flex. The joists are infilled with rigid foam insulation.

The joists are covered with a breathable membrane and plywood is laid on the floor.

The wall frames are made flat on the deck and then raised into position.

The second wall is put up and braced.

All the wall frames are made and a lintel is constructed to carry the roof over the door opening. A former is being made to shape the curved glue-lam beams for the roof.

Here we are using the former to make one of the beams. The beams are made with strips of softwood which are glued together to make a beam that is stronger than if it was made from a single piece of wood. This was a long process as we could only make 2 a day and this build needed 14 in all.

While the beams are being made the walls are taken down so that the membrane and cladding can be fixed. Usually this would be done while the walls are up but in this case there wasn’t a lot of space to work between the garden walls so we did this flat and then raised them back into position.

All of the beams are finished and trimmed and set into position on the walls.

The end beams are doubled up for strength.

An opening is created for a skylight and the roof is clad with boards to support the roof coverings.

The external cladding finished. We used a western red Cedar feather-board on this studio. It is very low maintenance and will weather down to a beautiful silver grey over time. The roof is covered with a liner to waterproof it and Cedar trims are fixed to finish the edges.

The sedum matting is laid on a water retaining fleece. We used sliding, double glazed, powder coated aluminium framed doors for high performance and low maintenance.

The walls and ceiling are packed with sheep’s wool insulation. The ceiling is clad with softwood tongue and groove matchings and the walls are clad with Birch ply to keep it nice and light inside. We fixed a book shelf above the door and the client fitted a light grey Marmoleum floor and some electric panel radiators.

A triple wall polycarbonate dome skylight is fitted along with two large daylight LED panel lights and the artist moves in. The dome was adapted to be openable to improve airflow throughout the building.

This is a photo of the roof from an upstairs window of the house. We used a mixed sedum mat system which is low maintenance and changes colour through the seasons. There are plenty of small flowers in it which are good for bees and wildlife.

Our client had the idea to use split giant bamboo for the guttering inspired by a building he had seen on a trip to orient.

The client had slatted blinds fitted to be able to control the amount of sunlight entering the studio.