Le Cabinet

A small studio in London has been transformed into a flexible living space which allows the owner to work, sleep, eat, cook, entertain, bathe, watch TV, do laundry and store books, dishes and clothes within the confines of a 26 square metre footprint. The design of the space, and the insertion of a sleeping loft has meant that it accommodates all the activities of everyday life. The initial concept of a jewellery box has been expanded in the design of the details so that the space can breathe and transform through the pushing, pulling, sliding, shifting, opening and closing of individual elements of the joinery. The joinery has been beautifully made by a joiner that we regularly work with - Davis Haworth Jacob, and the quality of the work brings a depth and joy to the project. The project responds to the client’s requirements that it feel spacious and light, by the addition of custom-made sliding doors which close to form a white box, and open to reveal areas of colour, housing different activities. So, for example, when the kitchen is open inhabitants can see a blue interior and when the study space is open, this becomes a pale green. The use of colour on the interior of the cupboards not only allows the space to become many spaces within one room, but also challenges the ubiquitous Notting Hill ‘white box’ aesthetic, by transforming it from the inside. This project is the result of a close collaboration between us and our client, who has been instrumental in shaping the use of all the elements – even down to the inclusion of a ‘laundry chute’ from the loft space and a vented cat flap in the cupboard for the comfort of the two resident cats. This project won the Apartment Therapy Award for the 'Smallest Coolest Apartment 2007'.