Completed refurbishment

Its been a while since posting updated info about the flat. Works were pretty much completed on site in September. There are some interior finishes and furniture that we are still working on, for instance in the living room, (as you can see in some sketch renders that I've posted below). But these are to be completed within the next couple of months as the clients are currently happily living in the flat after moving into it at the end of summer.The kitchen has turned out particularly successfully in its arrangment and finishes and is definitely the main social space of the flat. We are now just wanting to dress the lounge room more by creating feature furniture so that these two rooms set each other off nicely.

Entrance 

Before & after: Main corridor (with new wardrobes)

Before & after: (left) main bathroom (right) service bathroom

Bespoke joinery in main bathroom & the shower room

Detail shots of bespoke wardrobe in bedroom

Before & after: kitchen showing island/dining table

 

Kitchen

 

 

 Lounge room leading off of kitchen

Furniture items we're currently developing for this room

Showing different types of storage spaces within bench

Nested House Wave interference screens

Below are some shots of an ongoing project with UFO , for some 5-axis cnc milled screens for their nested house project.

The 3D wave pattern of 2 interfering wave-forms is translated via Grasshopper to the flat surface of perspex screens to be perforated by a 5-axis milling machine at Metropolitan Works.

The attempt is that of creating an interference pattern which will obstruct street views whilst letting light inside the apartment.

End of July Updates

Below are some quick panoramas of the flat's interior. Everything is still very much work in progress with most of the furnishings and several fittings missing; some errors need rectifying (such as the joiner finishing the wardrobe doors in the wrong RAL colour in an outburst of self proclaimed creativity), but all will be on hold for 2 weeks as everyone in Italy is going on holiday. We are also trying to develop a way of photographing the interiors which will convey the experiential qualities of moving through the different spaces and interacting with the various pieces of furnitures; their textures and details. These will be appearing soon on the blog too.

July Inspection

As works are coming to an end; during July's site inspection we concentrated on the quality of the finishes and in particular the various paint jobs which appeared to have been rushed a little and therefore need some improving. Additionally the Joiner started delivering the various furniture items which had been undergoing a varnishing process in his workshop. The spaces starting to look more inhabitable and ready to be used.

living room awaiting sliding door

kitchen Island acting as a storage for all the remaining fittings

reinstated polished door handle and lock

bathroom cabinet with carved towel holders

London Metropolitan End of Year show

Below are some images of two tables for the London Met end of year exhibition, Andrea created shop files for. They are both located in the UFO unit spaces (Masters and Diploma) and were assembled by London Met students. There is also a simple layout prepared for a recent exhibition at London Met, describing the potential usage of one of the tables designed by UFO Australia.

Diploma table cut from 12mm plywood using only friction joints

Masters in Digital Design laser cut bench (scaled model 1:5)

Fitting Finishes

Short update on some of the final works to be carried out on site prior to the main furniture elements being brought on site and fixed.

old paint removed with torch and sander

white trim on door frames, skirting and ceiling

assembled kitchen frame

Refurbishment updates

With all of the services prepared and ready, it is now a matter of rendering and finishing the shell. So, recently the floor and wall tiles have been laid down. In particular, the shower is looking great as it appears as its own small room within a larger room. We had a couple of issues with lining up the tiles on non-straight, non-90 degree walls but we came to a solution. Below you can see a plan showing the different choice of floor tiles for different rooms. The larger,living areas use the herringbone pattern and the narrow, corridor like spaces use the parallel plank arrangements.

Apart from rendering and finishing the shell, we have also been deciding upon the details and finishes of the furniture that is getting made for the flat. This has been an interesting process- rendered images have allowed us to see the general look of the furniture within the room but due to the size of it (wardrobe is 2.6m high or bed is 2.1) we have been deciding upon the finishes and materials by making full scale models of only its details.

 wardrobe handle detail

Next week, the kitchen will be fitted!! Am looking forward to that..