Szczepaniak Astridge focuses London loft extension on timber tub

Szczepaniak Astridge has added a rooftop extension to Leaf Home, a terrace in south London for architectural photographer Edmund Sumner and author Yuki Sumner.

Designed to be a peaceable retreat, the loft extension accommodates the Sumners’ main bedroom and incorporates a picket tub positioned in opposition to a big window with views throughout London.

“Leaf Home was commissioned by Edmund and Yuki as a sanctuary for them to retreat to on the higher ranges of their home in south-east London,” Simon Astridge, co-founder of Szczepaniak Astridge, instructed Dezeen.

The Sumners wished to create a easy bed room that was completely different from the numerous loft extensions they’d seen in London and didn’t attempt to squeeze rather a lot into the area.

“It isn’t designed to make sense or be completely sensible aesthetically or space-wise,” defined Edmund Sumner.

“I’ve shot numerous attic extensions and they are often white containers which can be all too usually taken up by space for storing and extremely popular in summer time, too chilly within the winter. We wished one thing easy, open and calm,” he continued.

“I favored the thought of a shower with a view – one thing very acquainted from my visits to Japan.”

Designed to reap the benefits of the views throughout the greenery of Lettsom Gardens, the area is totally open with the steps arriving straight within the bed room and no partitions dividing the tub from the sleeping area.

The mattress’s tall headboard sections off a part of the room, which has been left as open area.

“It is distinctive in some ways because it incorporates plenty of Japanese components and its very tactile, however for me what’s most original about it’s that we left empty area up within the attic,” mentioned Edmund Sumner.

“We left it open fairly than divide it up into little compartments, which most standardised attic conversions would resort to.”

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“This was due to the architect Simon, who understood the significance of ‘ma’ –  the Japanese idea of area, the in-between area of nothing,” he added.

Japanese inside design, in addition to sustainability, was additionally necessary for the selection of supplies used within the loft, which has clay protecting its roof and partitions.

“We tried to be as sustainable as doable, utilizing pure supplies like ‘tsuchikabe’ or clay wall, timber for construction and having good insulation, and incorporating Japanese influences, like the thought of going by means of the darkness to gentle – therefore the tunnel – and the tub that’s made out of waxed teak,” mentioned Yuki Sumner.

The loft conversion shaped a part of an overhaul of the terrace’s higher storeys to create further bedrooms for the Sumner’s youngsters and in flip unencumber area for the pair to earn a living from home.

“The primary focus was to offer our kids their very own rooms,” defined Yuki Sumner. “Creating an attic freed up the ground beneath to create two equal-sized rooms and an ensuite bathe room,” she instructed Dezeen.

“We now have a five-bedroom home, which appears very large however as each Edmund and I earn a living from home, the truth that we now have a room every to work in additionally makes an enormous distinction by way of productiveness and output.”

The pair of kids’s bed room have been completed with an analogous materials palette to the master suite within the loft. The partitions are half clay, which extends to the ceiling, and half cork, which continues to cowl the ground. The cork permits the youngsters to make use of the partitions as a pinboard.

All the rooms are accomplished with birch plywood furnishings.

Each Edmund and Yuki Sumner have labored protecting structure for a few years, however imagine that creating their very own challenge has given them an enormous perception into the occupation.

“I’ve labored within the business for over 20 years now however I’ve realized an entire much more in regards to the business and the way it works in simply 20 weeks,” mentioned Edmund Sumner.

“It was fascinating being on the opposite facet of the desk, entering into the top of a typical shopper that I would take care of. I may in all probability write an entire guide on this.”

Among the many buildings that architectural photographer Edmund Sumner has just lately captured are a brutalist concrete structure college in India, a charred-wood home in Mexico and a pink cemetery in Japan designed by David Chipperfield. He may even be collaborating with Dezeen as a part of Digital Design Competition.

Pictures is by Edmund Sumner.

Challenge credit:

Architect: Szczepaniak Astridge
Shoppers: Edmund Sumner, Yuki Sumner
Engineer: Webb Yates
Contractor: Q Initiatives)
Furnishings: Luke Chipfix Furnishings
Clay partitions: Clayworks Plasters
Clay software: Man Valentine
Tub: William Garvey
Lighting: Wo and we assortment