London loft extension by Office S&M explores "how far cork can go"
London studio Office S&M has used cork as cladding, insulation and flooring in this mansard extension to a house in Walthamstow, which is enlivened by bright yellow details.
Aptly named Cork Loft, the extension has created space for an additional bedroom and bathroom, marking the first phase of a wider renovation of the Victorian terraced home.
The homeowners tasked Office S&M with prioritising sustainability in its material choices, which led the studio to "exploring how far cork could go" and using it to replace traditional building materials wherever possible.
"Through detailed research, we explored how cork could replace conventional materials," founders Catrina Stewart and Hugh McEwen told Dezeen.
"[Cork] is harvested without felling trees, supports biodiversity and sequesters carbon. It is biodegradable, recyclable and formed without synthetic glues. It also provides strong thermal and acoustic insulation, resists moisture and mould, and requires minimal maintenance," they continued.
"The intention was to prove that low carbon construction can be expressive, colourful and full of character."
The exterior of Cork Loft is clad in a striped pattern of light and dark shades, created by prototyping several different cork treatments with consultants Materials Assemble to understand how they would age differently over time.
This is also reflected in the interior, where the bedroom floor has been finished in a diagonal pattern of alternating dark and light cork stripes.
Rough plasterwork on the walls echoes the rough finish of these cork surfaces, contrasted by a datum of pale blue paint that runs throughout the interior, expanding to cover entire walls of the bathroom, accompanied by mosaic tiling.
A large window in Cork Loft's bedroom frames the tree canopies outside, while the bathroom features a porthole-style window and a rooflight above the shower for an "open sky bathing experience".
These openings have been finished with bold yellow frames, matched externally by the extension's guttering and internally by a bright yellow staircase connecting it to the main home.
"A large rectangular window acts like a cinema screen overlooking the garden, while a circular bathroom window introduces a playful moment," said Stewart and McEwen.
"Yellow detailing draws light and movement upwards through the house, creating a strong vertical link between old and new," they added.
Elsewhere in London, ROAR Architects previously upgraded the thermal performance of a 1970s home in Tottenham by completely wrapping its exterior in mottled panels of expanded cork.
Other architecture projects that make use of cork include House in Valongo, which Atelier Local designed to "feel larger than it actually is", and the Casa Pádel apartment block by Núñez Ribot.
The photography is by French + Tye.
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