Earthrise Studio

Earthrise Studio is the retrofit of a converted warehouse apartment within a historic shoe factory in London, originally constructed in 1924. The live-work space was designed for a climate activist and filmmaker couple, and the operations of their media company, Earthrise.

The brief called for a pared-back, light-touch approach that balanced the building’s original industrial fabric with a natural interior palette. The clients wanted a flexible space suited to relaxing, hosting and working without compromising the character of the existing building.

Studio McW took a sensitive approach to the building’s original features, retaining the large windows, exposed trusses, concrete beams and double-height pitched roof with overhead glazing. Redundant overhead services were stripped back to open up the volume above and a defunct doorway was removed to improve spatial flow.

A long concrete sideboard with oak cabinetry and shelving operates as a multi-use feature, providing seating, storage and display for the clients’ collection of art, photography and objects gathered from their travels and created by friends. Toxin-absorbing clay walls in a matte finish unify the two storeys, while a custom steel balustrade allows light to permeate to the floor below.

Earthrise Studio required close collaboration between architecture and interiors, and between studio and client, the result is a space that is as functional as it is personal, shaped as much by the clients’ practice and values as by the constraints of the existing building.