Schindel Studio

Schindel studio is a purpose built, sustainable artist's studio in Leytonstone, East London, for the landscape painter Amelia Humber.

Utilising shingles to clad the walls and roof was influenced by Archer + Braun’s co-founder Sarah Braun's exposure to the architectural vernacular of rural villages in the Alps. The shingles, a low carbon and sustainable product, were sourced from an artisan producer in Bavaria that produces shingles that are hand split and made from older larch ’shingle’ trees, creating a finish to the timber that exposes the grain and is rich in variety and texture. When experimenting with different finishes, the black matt finish eventually chosen emphasises the variation present in the surface of each shingle, and gave a typically rustic material a contemporary and unifying quality.

The building's form and articulation are entirely in response to its function as an artist's studio. The roof is pitched to allow for north light, and the wall space is maximised for artworks. There is one single window over the large butler sink is where artwork would not have been able to be hung in any case. The interior has been envisaged as a ‘white box’, providing robust and durable working surfaces that are easily repainted.

The ambition for the studio was to both construct and run it using the latest sustainable materials and technologies. Rather than pour concrete which is environmentally problematic, screw piles were used for the foundations. Instead of specifying standard petrochemical insulation that is widely available for the studio’s thermal envelope, the walls and roof were specified to be entirely breathable, using insulation made from both wood fibre and recycled denim from the fashion industry. All glazing is triple glazed. The insulation specified outperforms current Building Regulations requirements so that only one small electric radiator (powered by solar panels on the roof of the main house) is required for heating purposes.

All the existing mature trees in the garden were retained. This partially conceals the overall form of the studio, with the black finish of the shingles providing a backdrop to the changing daylight and passing seasons.