Bouverie Mews

Peter Culley, director of Spatial Affairs Bureau, will explain how this living and working compound was formed on a seemingly impossible former light industrial site along the edge of the stunning Abney Park Cemetery. The process involved Peter often working alongside artist client Rana Begum to see how she lived as a single mother with her then two young children, and also observing how she worked with her growing team of assistants. When her studio moved to a temporary home in Haringey it prompted a greater understanding of how vertical segregation of uses was almost essential, separating clean and more intensive operations, and consequently, the design was amended to include a basement metal and wood workshop.

One of the peculiarities of the site was that despite Rana's need for natural light for her art practice, and due to surrounding buildings and garden walls there was nowhere to have windows on the ground floor where the studio needed to be. In response a careful stepping form to the buildings allows light to flood all levels via sculptural skylights, including in the home, and balancing out the effect of the stunning but very green foliage of the woodland all around.

There are 4 internal levels overall and 3 levels of gardens. The building is designed to exceed Passivhaus standards of insulation, glazing performance and airtightness, and there are whole-house heat recovery systems for each of the 3 separate spaces (studio, home and guest house). Water is collected from each of the roofs and collected in the lower garden for irrigation needs at the higher levels.

The sculpted exterior form, perhaps best observed from the cemetery, is clad in Scottish Larch,

To make most sense of the available budgets over the years, the project has been completed in stages, with a final project, the studio spray booth, being planned for later this year.

This tour will showcase a remarkable world hidden amongst the trees and Victorian workshops at the edge of historic Abney Park Cemetery.