Hayhurst and Co creates "hanging-basket roof" for designers' home and studio
Architecture studio Hayhurst and Co has built a home and studio for leading leather-design duo Whitaker Malem, featuring a steeply stepped roof covered in over 800 plants (+ slideshow).
![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_936_2.jpg)
Called Garden House, the two-storey residence is located in the De Beauvoir area of London's Hackney and is one of 20 houses vying for this year's RIBA House of the Year award.
![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_936_0.jpg)
The building takes its name from its unusual roof.
Described by London-based Hayhurst and Co as a "hanging-basket roof", this tiered structure is a pyramid-like tower of planters containing sedums and heathers.
![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_936_6.jpg)
This provides the clients with a garden they can easily maintain.
Its sloping profile also echoes the form of neighbouring buildings, which helped the project win planning permission.
![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_936_21.jpg)
"Our brief was for a versatile space that might even be used for small exhibitions of our work as well as being a home and studio," explained clients Patrick Whitaker and Keir Malem.
"When a green roof was suggested as a way to help us get the [design] through planning, our immediate reaction was that we would only have a green roof that we could really garden," they said.
![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_936_12.jpg)
The duo – best known for creating costumes for movies including The Dark Knight and the Harry Potter series – originally built a single-storey workshop on the site in the 1990s.
The new property replaces this structure, which had fallen into disrepair.
![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_936_7.jpg)
To create the sculptural roof, architects Jonathan Nicholls and Nick Hayhurst mounted a series of V-shaped, stainless-steel trays onto the 30- and 45-degree pitched roofs.
The plants set into these trays are surrounded with pale pebbles, intended to replicate the seaside character of Dungeness – a place where Whitaker and Malem have a second home.
![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_936_13.jpg)
"The 'hanging' garden creates a unique and accessible roofscape," said Nicholls and Hayhurst.
"It creates a new and dramatic insertion into London's urban landscape."
![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_936_14.jpg)
The plot is landlocked, with other properties on all four sides.
This made it difficult to insert many windows, so skylights provide the majority of daylight for the interior.
![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_936_19.jpg)
The ground floor of the building contains the duo's living spaces.
A bedroom, an open kitchen and a bathroom are lined up along one side, with the rest of the space left over for lounge and dining areas.
![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_936_17.jpg)
A glazed entrance lobby – called the winter garden – provides an entrance to these spaces, which all feature tiled flooring reminiscent of paving stones.
A folded steel staircase is located near the entrance, and also incorporates shelving for artworks. It leads up to the first-floor studio.
![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_936_18.jpg)
This open-plan space is lined with oak panelling, and benefits from additional height provided by angled ceilings thanks to the roof structure.
Containing built-in storage and desks, it can function as a workspace, a gallery or a fitting room for clients.
![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_936_1.jpg)
"The project was developed from concept to detail as a design collaboration with the maker clients – a relationship which opened up a uniquely engaging making-based design process," added the architects.
Garden House is the latest in a series of recent projects that explore new forms for the traditional roof garden. Other recent examples include a house in Vietnam with its roof divided up into stripes and a Dutch block with an undulating green roof.
Photography is by Kilian O'Sullivan.
![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_plan_concept_1.gif)
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![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_first-floor-plan_1.gif)
![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_plan_sections_1.gif)
![Garden House by Hayhurst and Co](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/08/garden-house-hayhurst-and-co-de-beauvoir-hackney-london-architecture_dezeen_plan_cross-section_1.gif)