Artist's Studio | Spain | 2013 - THE [RADICAL] PROJECT

[Camps Felip Arquitecturia]

An artist needed an 80m2 studio in the garden of his house and asked us if we were able to do it for a 34.000 € cost (£27.000). We accepted the challenge and along with a local carpenter we proceeded in a way that could be built in just three weeks, also not to bother the quotidian day life of the house. In order to do this, we decided on a prefabricated wood system that could be previously prepared in the workshop and then just assembled on site.

The “L” shaped house generates a square garden in which there is a huge ash. We wanted to keep the magnificent tree and focus the views to the corners of the garden and so, we avoided seeing the house from the inside of the studio. The artist wanted to work close to his home without seeing it.

The plan of the studio is cross-shaped, where the main working space is double-height while the other four wings that gravitate around accommodate the entrance, the storage, the sink and the living area, everything is “handy and accessible”.

The volumes extruding from the centre space provided with a large window direct themselves to the outer corners of the gardens and give the impression of maximum depth achievable on this site, a third faces out to a paved driveway.

Externally everything has a pinewood finish in a warm tone that weathers well and integrates itself in the surfaces of the garden,” they added. Pot plants are positioned on grey gravel under the windows in nooks created by the cross-shaped plan. These are intended to further integrate the building into the garden.

The interior is lined in white painted MDF boards with grooved surfaces. The high walls that surround the centre of the space are used as a hanging area for paintings, while works in progress can be leant against the lower level walls.

The double-height space provides breathing space for the artist and canvas, and gives a generous impression of pleasant working, large format paintings and light coming from height. Text description by the architects.