designboom revisits the live-workspace ‘archway studios’ by london-based practice undercurrent architects, currently for sale through the modern house. situated beneath a nineteenth century railway viaduct in south london, the residence exemplifies design ingenuity due to a restrictive, narrow site. a weathered corten steel exterior shell makes up the slender exterior atrium of the project, while the sweeping, whitewashed interiors extend further into the arching viaduct. while the materiality of the exterior was directly influenced by the industrial surroundings, the project offers an unusual take on inhabitable infrastructure.

undercurrent archway studios
all images courtesy of the modern house

 

 

undercurrent architects carefully designed the curvature and apertures of the steel atrium to best capture and draw natural daylight into the white interior. the unusual site beneath a railway viaduct requires special attention to soundproofing and vibration control. sheets of steel foil are used as an acoustic envelope to protect the interior from the sounds of the surrounding railway, improving interior comfort. an insulated air gap between the inner and outer membranes allows for the interior skin to work solely towards acoustic reduction. the live-workspace — serving as both a family residence and a photography studio — won the london architecture awards’ ‘house of the year’ in 2013.

undercurrent archway studios  undercurrent archway studios  undercurrent archway studios  undercurrent archway studios undercurrent archway studios   undercurrent archway studios

 

 

project info:

 

undercurrent architects: didier ryan, alessandra gianotti

eckersley o’callaghan engineers: rutger snoek, marcin march

munro acoustics: phil pyatt

project year: 2012

area: 1600 sq ft.

kat barandy I designboom
aug 22, 2018

  • I’ve always thought occupying space underneath active railway bridges/motorway bridges would be an amazing use of space. Just wondered how loud being under a site like that might be?

    Great to see a project like this realised 🙂

    harry says:
    Aug 23, 2018
    Reply

have something to add? share your thoughts in our comments section below.

comments policy
LOG IN
designboom's comment policy guidelines
generally speaking, if we publish something, it's because we're genuinely interested in the subject. we hope you'll share this interest and if you know even more about it, please share! our goal in the discussion threads is to have good conversation and we prefer constructive opinions. we and our readers have fun with entertaining ones. designboom welcomes alerts about typos, incorrect names, and the like.
the correction is at the discretion of the post editor and may not happen immediately.

what if you disagree with what we or another commenter has to say?
let's hear it! but please understand that offensive, inappropriate, or just plain annoying comments may be deleted or shortened.

- please do not make racist, sexist, anti-semitic, homophobic or otherwise offensive comments.
- please don't personally insult the writers or your fellow commenters.
- please avoid using offensive words, replacing a few letters with asterisks is not a valid workaround.
- please don't include your website or e-mail address in your comments for the purpose of self-promotion.
- please respect jury verdicts and do not discuss offensively on the competition results
(there is only one fist prize, and designboom usually asks renown professionals to help us to promote talent.
in addition to the awarded designs, we do feel that almost all deserve our attention, that is why we publish
the best 100-200 entries too.)

a link is allowed in comments as long as they add value in the form of information, images, humor, etc. (links to the front page of your personal blog or website are not okay). unwelcome links (to commercial products or services of others, offensive material etc. ) will be redacted. and, ... yes, spam gets banned. no, we do not post fake comments.

forgot password

(93 articles)

(182 articles)

(78 articles)

(61 articles)

PRODUCT LIBRARY

a diverse digital database that acts as a valuable guide in gaining insight and information about a product directly from the manufacturer, and serves as a rich reference point in developing a project or scheme.

architecture news

bubbling 'boolean operator' punctuates suzhou's bustling urban landscape bubbling 'boolean operator' punctuates suzhou's bustling urban landscape
sep 20, 2018

bubbling 'boolean operator' punctuates suzhou's bustling urban landscape

#architecture

across the world from its brooklyn studio, MARC FORNES / THEVERYMANY has generated a continuous surface that grows outward from a network of columns, peeling open »

across the world from its brooklyn studio, MARC FORNES / THEVERYMANY has generated a continuous surface that grows outward from a network of columns, peeling open into an enclosed shell.

#architecture

all architecture news