Dezeen Magazine

Bedroom of Upper Wimpole Street apartment by Jonathan Tuckey Design

Jonathan Tuckey Design updates London apartment with pink and pistachio-green storage walls

Pastel storage walls curve and dip through the rooms of this apartment in London's Marylebone neighbourhood, which has been overhauled by architecture studio Jonathan Tuckey Design.

The apartment is situated along Upper Wimpole Street, occupying the ground floor of a Regency-era townhouse that had a rather poor internal layout and limited storage space.

Living room of Upper Wimpole Street apartment by Jonathan Tuckey Design
Top image: the apartment's bedroom. Above: a pale-pink storage wall dominates a corner of the living room

"[The apartment] was split linearly and devoid of any sense of hierarchy or public/private spaces," Jonathan Tuckey Design told Dezeen. "The bedroom spilled from the communal hall and was completely visible from the main street and front door."

The lack of storage also meant its owners were unable to hide away the "untidiness of everyday life".

Tiled corridor of Upper Wimpole Street apartment by Jonathan Tuckey Design
Inhabitants are guided through a tiled corridor

Instead of fitting standard shelves and cupboards, the studio set out to fashion built-in furniture in the form of MDF storage walls, which would be able to comfortably accommodate the inhabitants' breadth of belongings.

By constructing these deep-set storage walls, Tuckey and his team also hoped it would create intricate "rooms within rooms", a concept they had become interested in by looking at American architect Louis Kahn's studies of Scottish castles. Kahn observed how ancillary rooms for servants were often built around main living spaces, set into the castles thick outer walls.

Upper Wimpole Street apartment by Jonathan Tuckey Design includes built-in storage walls
A small antechamber features pistachio-green storage walls

Another point of reference were two oil paintings by 15th-century Italian artist Stefano di Giovanni: Saint Francis Before the Sultan and Saint Francis Renounces His Earthly Father.

In the two works, the saint and other biblical figures are depicted standing inside green and pink rooms that feature a series of soaring archways.

"These works helped conceptualise the joinery pieces as an internal architecture, housed within the larger volume of the building," the studio explained.

"They were designed with the ambition of being able to subdivide spaces but also create a relationship with the vertical proportions of the rooms."

Upper Wimpole Street apartment by Jonathan Tuckey Design includes built-in storage walls
An arched doorway looks through to the master bedroom

In keeping with Giovanni's colour palette, Jonathan Tuckey Design has created a pale-pink storage wall in the apartment's living room.

It is inbuilt with flush cupboards, glass-fronted cabinets and a couple of arched niches where small trinkets can be displayed. There's also a decorative golden strip running along the walls upper edge, along with few brass spotlights.

The wall winds up and around an existing marble fireplace before dipping into a short corridor, where the floor has been clad with a striking mix of black and white triangular tiles.

Bedroom of Upper Wimpole Street apartment by Jonathan Tuckey Design
The bedroom has been finished with a green headboard and side tables

Inhabitants are lead through to a small antechamber. Storage walls here are pistachio green and include open shelves. A tall arched doorway grants access to the master bedroom proper, which has been finished with matching green side tables and a huge bed with an emerald-coloured headboard.

The apartment's pastel scheme takes a detour in the study, where the MDF joinery is stained in a natural wood colour. One of this room's walls has also been inset with navy-blue panelling.

Study of Upper Wimpole Street apartment by Jonathan Tuckey Design
The apartment's study features contrasting blue panelling

This isn't the only residential project that features distinctive storage solutions.

Cubículo Arquitectos added extra storage to an apartment in Porto by installing birch-plywood cupboards around its existing structural columns. Lookofsky Architecture also helped the owners of a Stockholm flat maximise on space by erecting a seven-metre-long, sunshine-yellow storage wall.

Photography is by Ståle Eriksen.

More images and plans

Upper Wimpole Street apartment by Jonathan Tuckey Design
Floor plan
Upper Wimpole Street apartment by Jonathan Tuckey Design includes built-in storage walls
Upper Wimpole Street apartment by Jonathan Tuckey Design includes built-in storage walls
Upper Wimpole Street apartment by Jonathan Tuckey Design includes built-in storage walls