Dezeen Magazine

Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design

Jonathan Tuckey Design converts London mews house into Paddington Pantheon artists' gallery

Architecture studio Jonathan Tuckey Design has turned a mews house in Paddington, London, into an art gallery for its former residents topped by a large roof light.

Named the Paddington Pantheon, the artists' former home was reconfigured to be a gallery to display their work alongside a small guest apartment.

Art gallery in London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design
Jonathan Tuckey Design has created an art gallery in a mews house

"Having lived and worked previously in the house, the clients perceived the space as the ideal setting for the display of their artwork," explained Jonathan Tuckey Design founder Jonathan Tuckey.

"Conceived, defined and developed within its walls, their artworks were a product of those domestically-scaled spaces and in a beautiful way inherently suited the scale of the mews house," he told Dezeen.

Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design
The Paddington Pantheon is topped with a skylight

The studio converted the rear part of the small mews house in Paddington into the main gallery space.

To allow light into the gallery, which is spread over two floors connected by an open staircase, Jonathan Tuckey Design designed a large roof light that is built into an angled aperture that extends up from the gallery.

Skylight in London mews
The skylight brings natural light into the gallery

"The mews house sits in a dense community of buildings, many of the immediate neighbouring buildings being taller than their own," said Tuckey.

"Pitching towards the sky, the oculus that crowns the gallery was sculpted in a way that obscured the views towards the other buildings, to manifest a feeling of being isolated and away from London thoroughfares."

Gallery in London mews house
The main gallery space is on two floors

The Paddington Pantheon gallery, which was designed in collaboration with artistsRob and Nick Carter to be "thought of as an art piece", was informed by Roman architecture.

"A programmatic basis for the design came from the Pinacotheca, the area of the Greco-Roman home that acted as a picture gallery," explained Tuckey.

Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design
The roof has an angled form

"The Pantheon, from which the project borrows its name, is formally significant due to the oculus that crowns its domed roof," he continued.

"The penetration of light through a celestial aperture is mimicked and nodding to the work of James Turrell, this was placed above the gallery space in a prismatic roof, contorted away from the orientation of the plan towards the north-south passage of the sun."

Art gallery in London
The gallery is for displaying the artists' own work

As well as the ancient precedents, the form of the roof light was also informed by the small property, which was built on a lane to service a large house on one of Paddington's main streets.

"Historically, mews houses were devoid of windows to their rear. Servicing the great houses behind, they were restricted of views and as a result were poorly daylit," said Tuckey.

"Small amounts of light filtered down from roof lights and cowls, whose formal language was adapted into the sculpted oculus of the gallery."

Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design
The roof light is informed by the mews house and the Pantheon

Alongside the main gallery space, a seating area next to a small kitchen and bathroom occupies the front of the house on the ground floor.

Above on the first floor, a bedroom and bathroom have been built so that the artists can use the gallery as a guest house.

Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design
The gallery is on a mews street in Paddington

Many of the small properties on London's mews street have been converted into shops and homes. Jonathan Tuckey Design previously created a live-work space for the owner of a fashion boutique in a mews house in Knightsbridge, London, which was one of 10 mews houses we recently rounded up in the city.

Photography is by James Brittain.

More images and plans

Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design
Site plan
Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design
Ground floor plan
Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design
First floor plan
Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design
Gallery perspective
Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design
Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design
Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design
Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design
Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design
Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design
Paddington Pantheon art gallery in a London mews by Jonathan Tuckey Design