The Biscuit Factory
A refurbishment that revives the architectural characteristics of the original baking room in an old biscuit factory, which had been masked in a 1980’s conversion, and expands it into a light filled live-work space.
The design responds to the client’s desire of reimagining how a limited studio footprint could become a flexible live–work home – while revealing the history of the original biscuit factory. Research and selective opening-up works uncovered the original features of the baking rooms, which had been concealed by previous conversions.
Rather than dividing the space with conventional walls – which would have reduced daylight from the studio’s south-facing windows – a series of inhabitable birch plywood “pods” were introduced that create distinct rooms while still allowing the full height and volume of the factory to be felt.
Set back from the newly revealed glazed brick columns and factory windows, the pods read as large pieces of furniture within the space. Their careful placement and integration with program increased the usable floor area from 60sqm to 81sqm, transforming the studio into a live–work home with a bedroom, a walk-in closet, integrated kitchen and living space, dining room, a mezzanine office, guest accommodation, and over 9sqm of built-in storage.
The project was a Don’t Move Improve Award finalist and has been published in books including East London Homes and Building in Existing Contexts, as well as widely featured in magazines including Detail, Grand Designs, and Architectures À Vivre.
Location:
London, England
SIZE:
871 sq.ft / 81 sq.m (existing 645 sq.ft / 60 sq.m)
Status:
Completed 2018
