Brick and Timber: O'Sullivan Skoufoglou Builds a Quiet Garden Studio in Highbury

O'Sullivan Skoufoglou Architects has completed a garden studio in Highbury, London, for a filmmaker and artist couple, resting a lightweight timber structure on a low brick base at the end of a Victorian home's garden.

The London-based practice slotted the building at the far end of the plot to preserve the main house's views across the mature garden, avoiding what the studio called "compromising the sense of depth and continuity of the landscape".

"It was important that the building felt distinct from the house while sitting comfortably within its setting, a short walk from the rear garden door," studio co-founder Amalia Skoufoglou told Dezeen.

"The intention was to create a building that felt quiet yet present in the garden, rather than competing with it or the Victorian house," she added.

What does the building actually look like?

Two materials do the work. A low brick plinth references the brick boundary walls of the Victorian home and pays homage to Victorian glasshouses, which were traditionally supported on low brick walls. Above it sits a lightweight timber structure, chosen, in Skoufoglou's words, to "allow the upper part of the building to remain visually light".

The material palette and low profile were designed to complement the existing house and garden and to keep visual impact to a minimum. Skoufoglou frames the result in terms of proportion rather than ornament.

"The form allows the quality of the space to emerge through its proportions, construction and relationship with daylight," she said. "Its modest scale and subservient position give the studio the character of a garden building."

How does the interior work?

Inside, the studio contains a main open workspace and an adjoining bathroom. The focal point is a built-in desk that runs along the main east-facing window wall.

"The main window wall and the built-in desk form the focus of the interior. The desk runs alongside the generous east-facing windows, making daylight and the changing garden views an integral part of the working environment," said Skoufoglou.

"This arrangement brings the working surface into direct relationship with natural light and views of the garden."

The timber structure is left exposed at roof level, and the brick plinth remains visible inside. Between the two, the walls are lined with painted pine. Smaller windows are positioned around the studio, framing views of trees while maintaining privacy from neighbouring homes.

According to the practice, the "grain of the timber, the texture of the brick and the changing daylight combine to give the space its character".

Where does this sit in London's garden-studio wave?

The project joins a run of compact London garden workspaces recently featured on Dezeen, including Shou Sugi Bangers, a charred-timber music studio by Unknown Works, and Gardenhide Studio, a hempcrete workspace self-built by Commonbond Architects. What this one offers is a template for adding workspace without eroding the garden itself — the placement, scale and two-material construction all serve that single constraint. Whether the quiet-presence formula travels to tighter urban plots, where depth and continuity are already compromised, is the open question.