Blackheath Artist’s Studio

by Design King Company

The Blackheath Artist’s Studio is a small sanctuary nestled in the backyard of two creative clients. Designed for painting, study and refuge, this building became an exploration of pre-fabricated cross-laminated timber (CLT) construction, and draws on broader ideas of affordable housing, regional living, form and light.

The clients of the studio first approached Design King Company aiming to subdivide their 1300-square-metre property in order to develop a series of prefabricated buildings with shared utilities and amenities. The studio has now been built, and architectural interventions to the property are ongoing.

The primary material of the studio is CNC-machined cross-laminated timber (CLT) which provide both the structure and interior lining of the building. Design King Company had a longstanding fascination with the pre-fabricated, sustainable construction after winning an international competition that efficiently responded to the devastating Christchurch earthquakes of 2011. The Blackheath Artist’s Studio is now a realised prototype with economical, efficient and sustainable benefits for suburban infill buildings.

The studio is compact with a footprint of only 24.5-square-metre footprint, however yields 63 square metres of floor space across three levels. The main level is a multi-function space for art practice on the ground floor, a place for rest and reflection on the mezzanine above, and a study on the lower ground floor basement.

The lower ground floor is made of blockwork, anchoring the building into its sloping site and providing a base for the lighter CLT volume above. The building is clad in recycled timber which will grey in time and recede into its semi rural environment. A skylight atop the pitched roof creates a church-like effect as sunlight floods the surfaces of whitewashed interior timber walls. The skylight is operable, and together with the form of the building allow for a thermal chimney so that the building is cool in the summer. In the winter, hydronic heating and sand beneath the compressed fibre cement floor panels provide warmth and thermal mass. Large double-glazed windows with thermally broken frames provide insulation while taking advantage of the view of the Kanimbla Valley, and eaves and external blinds provide protection from the summer sun.

The Blackheath Artist’s Studio has become a testing ground for incremental density in our suburbs and towns. Indeed, the building draws on the ethos of prefabricated construction and its benefits in sustainability and economy whilst still delivering visual and sensory delight to its inhabitants.