CAN completes "mystical and grounding" renovation of London townhouse

Cave-like openings, green timber tendrils and a monolithic standing stone all feature in Druid Grove, a London house recently renovated by local studio CAN.

Located in East Dulwich, the three-bedroom townhouse was updated and extended for a visual artist, whose own work informed the creation of what CAN founder Mat Barnes calls a "mystical" space.

Rear extension at Druid Grove in London — CAN has updated and extended a townhouse in London

"The main concepts that informed the materials, forms and colours came out of conversations with the client and their artistic output, which at the time focused on re-imagined nature through video game and virtual environments," Barnes told Dezeen.

"We asked them to put together an image bank of visual references that we could riff off – no architecture allowed – and this image bank became the starting point for a lot of the more fantastical elements, such as the standing stone and the tendrils," he continued. "The result is Hyperfolk: a combination of mystical, grounding and expansive design."

Tiled interior of London home — Red and pink tiles contrast with rough render and brick

The ground floor of Druid Grove was opened up by the removal of a structural wall and the addition of a half-metre rear extension.

This created an expansive dining and kitchen space that opens onto the home's garden.

Kitchen interior at house Druid Grove renovation by CAN — Druid Grove's rear extension contains an expansive dining and kitchen area

This area is centred around a snaking kitchen counter, which sits beneath a skylight finished with tendril-like fins of green timber, intended to evoke the feeling of plants trailing from above.

The walls on either side have been finished with contrasting sections of glossy red and pink tiles and rough render and brick, beneath the exposed steel structure of the ceilings.

Full-height sliding glass doors open out into the home's garden, which is centred around a large granite standing stone that was sourced in Cornwall, close to the Neolithic sites of The Hurlers and Long Tom.

At the centre of Druid Grove, an entrance space flanked by two jagged, cave-like openings separates the rear space from a more subdued lounge at the front.

Jagged openings within Druid Grove by CAN — Cave-like openings divide the home's ground floor

"We looked a lot to sci-fi films and imagined nature, the set from Dark Crystal was a big influence on the project," said Barnes.

"We also looked extensively through the book Folklore Myths and Legends of Britain, which chronicles the folklore stories and magic across the island, and contemporary documentation such as Weird Walk, Stone Lands and The Stone Club," he added.

Bedroom interior at Druid Grove by CAN — A red and pink bedroom sits on the upper floor

Upstairs, a red and pink bedroom is overlooked by a mezzanine bathtub, while in the ensuite bathroom, the shower is screened by a wall of green terrazzo finished with a craggy, broken edge.

Druid Grove's second bedroom and study were treated in a contrasting shade of deep blue, referencing the backdrops used for cinematic visual effects, while a home office and studio are finished in a palette of green and pink.