Artillery Mansions Kitchen

Built in the 1990s, the original layout of this central London developer-built flat had conformed to the standard cookie cutter solution, defined almost entirely by compliance with regulations and conservative market convention. This included a charmless and entirely separate, windowless internal kitchen, located at the opposite end of the flat to the dining room. The route between the two was via a dark and unwelcoming L-shaped corridor containing multiple fire doors to provide the separation from the rooms, an arrangement with which we are all familiar.
Our re-imagining of the layout demonstrates how a fresh approach can make much better use of the available floor area in a typical developer flat of this type by incorporating the space previously wasted in the internal corridor in a more enjoyable flexible naturally-lit open-plan arrangement, bringing the kitchen into the heart of the home.
Within this open-plan space, a central ‘floating’ block, articulated with a concealed LED strip around its top edge, now conceals an existing structural column. It also, crucially, allows the spacious kitchen to be incorporated in the open plan living space to one side of it, by providing an alternative escape route to the front door on the other.
The other side of the block houses a home office work station. Two full-height concealed fire doors on electro-magnetic holds complete the enclosure of a protected escape route from both bedrooms and the living space in the case of a fire. These also provide flexibility for separation of the work area from the living area, or temporary increased separation of the kitchen and open living area from the bedrooms as and when required.
The palette of materials has been kept deliberately simple: wide-board Douglas Fir flooring, white factory acrylic lacquered cupboard doors, polished concrete for the worktop, back-coated glass splashbacks and satin stainless-steel for the sink and tap. Aside from the ovens, all kitchen appliances are fully integrated so that from the living/dining area they are hidden from view.
Cupboard doors have a discreet rebated handle detail. The high-level wall cupboards feature bi-fold lift-up doors using a soft-close, sprung arm mechanism. Underneath these, concealed linear LED strips light down onto the worktop below. The concrete worktop folds down to the ground at the open end, forming a projecting counter that doubles as a breakfast bar.
FORMstudio Director Malcolm Crayton comments, “Whilst many feel that space standards should be increased, in my view there’s not enough discussion about the quality of space. Architects should be trusted to use their skills to make better use of this precious commodity, to create better designed, compact kitchen and living spaces that are truly affordable, rather than larger, less-affordable floor areas which are then sacrificed through poor design.”