DarkMatter | Hyperspace

Hyper_ Studio have transformed an old suburban garage into a studio space which works in harmony with nature. Located in Hertfordshire, UK, this is no ordinary garden office, and instead offers a tranquil and spacious environment to work in a focussed yet flexible way alongside refined architectural forms.

The brief for the 35m2 studio included the need for a design that complemented virtual working; with textured backgrounds and a variety of places to sit and work. The studio has a simple rectangular plan, with one corner cut away to form the entrance, and an extra wide pivoting door to create the feeling of a threshold; crossing over into a place to work. There are window stoops to work from or contemplate, and natural light pours in to create a connection with nature.

Aptly named ‘Dark Matter’, the studio’s façade has a moody, tapestry-like quality with 850 scales made of charred timber, a Japanese process called Shou Sugi Ban which provides each square with a variety of subtle charred patterns, differing depending on the intensity of the heat used to treat the wood. The gaps between the chamfered scales are designed to foster biodiversity in the garden, acting as a giant “bug hotel” for insects to hibernate in.

The light and warm interior contrasts with the black façade, with white oiled timber rafters and pale poplar plywood panels lining the walls. To create the feeling of bringing nature within, two 'light chimneys' hang from the roof with a perforated pattern which mimics the dappled sunlight that softly streams through a tree’s canopy.

Creating a sustainable design was important to both the client and architect, with the brief to create a home studio with a minimal carbon footprint and supreme heat retention qualities.
An impressive 95% of the initial structure is reused in the final design, including steel lintels, block work and roof timbers, limiting the amount of waste being sent to landfill. Carefully dismantling the original timber roof structure allowed the reuse of 100% of the material, both in the new garden studio and another Hyper_ project, staying true to the circular economy principles the studio was founded on.

Any new timber was sustainably sourced, and the studio is insulated with sheep's wool, wood fibre and recyclable foil-based blankets teamed with triple glazed windows and skylights. To reduce embodied carbon, the majority of materials were procured from within a 10 mile radius. Steel and concrete use was kept to a minimum, with only one steel flitch plate and less than 1m sq of concrete.

The project’s client, Wayne Euston-Moore, has said, “My expectations have been well and truly exceeded with this home studio. It provides an amazing ‘headspace’ which is inspiring yet calm, and it feels like you're in a perfectly insulated space yet connected to the outside with 

ample natural light. Sustainability is very important to me, and the building is a great example of clever design, creativity and problem-solving to reuse materials and source locally.”

Hyper_ Founder and Architect, Olli Andrew, has said of the project, “Outdoor garden studios don’t need to be generic boxes but can be garden features, and this studio is a great example of how to reimagine an existing building into an inspiring and purposeful piece of architecture. This project’s beauty is in the craft, space and light, and with its connection to nature, it’s an inspired place to work.”

In addition to the Dark Matter garden studio, Hyper_ is continuing to pioneer a more sustainable approach to architecture through the adaptive reuse of existing buildings. The studio has several UK projects in the pipeline including a home extension inspired by the film-making process.