Dezeen Magazine

Assemble's Louis Schulz creates furniture for The Modern House's new London office

Tables and desks by a member of Turner Prize-winning studio Assemble are paired with vintage furniture and contemporary artworks in the new office of architecture-led estate agent The Modern House (+ slideshow).

The Modern House office with furniture by Assemble

The Modern House – which calls itself the UK's first design-focused estate agency – has moved to a new premises in London's Islington to make more room for its growing business, which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary.

The Modern House office with furniture by Assemble

Directors Matt Gibberd and Albert Hill decided to plan the office's interior design in-house, but commissioned deisgner Louis Schulz to create a couple of bespoke furniture designs for the space.

The Modern House office with furniture by Assemble

Schulz – who won the UK's most important art award in December as part of Assemble – designed a large table for a meeting room on the ground floor, as well as desks with concealed cable storage for the first floor.

"I have been working with Assemble to design a garden pavilion for my house in north London," Gibberd told Dezeen. "Off the back of this, I asked them to help with the refurbishment of The Modern House's new office."

The Modern House office with furniture by Assemble

"We bought the building from a photographer, who had carried out an elegant refurbishment a few years ago," he explained.

"Louis Schulz of Assemble helped us to reconfigure the space, moving the kitchen downstairs to create a meeting space and waiting area for visitors beneath the window. He designed and built a pair of plywood desks, each with a raised plinth to hold laptops and a jigsaw puzzle of removable panels for the wiring, as well as a large table downstairs for meetings and lunches."

The Modern House office with furniture by Assemble

Other additions to the space include vintage chairs by American designers Charles and Ray Eames, ceiling lights by mid-century Danish designer Hans Wegner and artworks by names including Michael Craig Martin and Darren Almond.

A minimal white-painted backdrop helps to draw attention to these elements, as well as to a large bookshelf organised by colour and a partition built from glass blocks.

The Modern House office with furniture by Assemble

The aim was to create a space the reflects the ethos of the brand, which specialises in the sale and letting of Modernist houses.

The company has sold more than 700 contemporary properties in the last 10 years, with past listings including the seminal London home designed by Richard Rogers for his parents, as well as houses by John Pawson and David Adjaye.

The Modern House office with furniture by Assemble

"We're proud of the role we've played in guiding buyers looking to invest in Modern architecture over the past 10 years," said Gibberd.

"The appetite for striking Modernist homes continues to grow, and it's an increasingly valuable asset class in which clients are ever more discerning."

The Modern House office with furniture by Assemble

"We look forward to expanding our business further from our new home," he added.

Photography is by French + Tye.