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Francisco Sutherland Architects inserts an oak structure into a Barbican flat
Francisco Sutherland Architects has slotted a timber structure containing a bathroom, mezzanine and wardrobes into a triplex apartment in London's brutalist Barbican Estate.
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Located on the apartment's double-height top-floor space, the bespoke oak-panelled structure sits next to the master bedroom, fitting snugly under the barrel-vaulted ceiling and taking up roughly half the floor space.
The intervention comprises a bedroom on the mezzanine platform, and a shower room and wardrobes that serve the adjoining master bedroom.
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The flat, in the estate's Bunyan Court, is an M3a type – a triplex, which spans the top fifth, sixth and seventh floors of the building.
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"The brief was for the design of a carefully crafted piece of furniture," explained Francisco Sutherland. "The design was based on the idea of a room within a room as well as a lived-in piece of furniture: a multifunctional object occupying a larger space."
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The structure is made using plywood panels with a birch core and four-millimetre oak veneers on both sides. Oak was chosen to contrast with the hardwood used on the main existing staircase.
A bedroom located on the mezzanine level is lined with a series of shutters that open onto the other bedroom below.
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"Storage and shutters were carefully integrated into the design of the upper platform and follow the curve of the ceiling as well as the original window detail," said Sutherland.
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On the structure's lower level, sandwiched between the stairs and bedroom wardrobes, the bathroom is carefully coordinated with the existing services.
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Lined with oak panels around the top of the walls and white panelling around the base, the bathroom features extra storage space and a bespoke shower tray.
Completed in 1972, Bunyan Court is one of the blocks that forms the grade-II listed Barbican Estate – one of the most well-known examples of brutalist architecture in London.
![Francisco Sutherland Architects insert an oak structure into a Barbican flat](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2017/09/barbican-mezzanine-francisco-sutherland-architects-interior_dezeen_2364_col_15-852x1278.jpg)
Many architects and designers have overhauled apartments within the Barbican, including another triplex apartment by Emulsion, and a one-bedroom with Missoni-inspired carpet and custom-made furniture by Azman Architects.
Photography is by Anton Rodriguez.
Project credits:
Architect: Francisco Sutherland Architects
Architect structural engineer: Barton Engineers
Main contractor/joiner/master craftsman: Dubel Joinery