Minimalist Home for Egg Boutique Owner / Jonathan Tuckey Design

Architects: Jonathan Tuckey Design
Location: Greater London, United Kingdom
Area: 130.0 m2
Project Year: 2017
Photographs: James Brittain, Dirk Linder

From the architect. Jonathan Tuckey Design has completed a project for Egg, a fashion boutique known for its minimalist approach to the clothes it stocks and the way they are presented to the buyer, acting more like a gallery than a traditional shop. Egg is located on a small mews in Knightsbridge, discreetly hidden by timber shutters that open up to reveal plain white and wooden interiors. This recently finished phase is part of an ongoing re-configuration of what is actually a series of buildings centred around the mews, creating a new home for the boutique’s owner and a much-needed expansion of the back-of-house facilities for the adjacent shop.

The arrangement of internal spaces and the materials selected were inspired by Egg’s pared-back design ethos, which is both elegant and informal. A series of timber containers have been inserted into the existing building, dividing domestic and commercial functions and sometimes blending the two. These boxes sit within the volume of the roof and create the nest-like atmosphere of an attic or store room, with skylights allowing light to pour down into the spaces below. Small openings create surprising views through to adjacent rooms and a timber staircase is made up of a series of planks suspended above the hallway.

Interior walls remain unadorned and furniture is kept to a minimum, further emphasising the minimalist aesthetic and creating a collection of calm spaces to occupy. Built-in storage hides the clutter of everyday life as they blend into the walls when closed. On the ground floor the project includes a bespoke wooden bath supplied by Studio Anna van der Lei set within a bathroom that opens to the mews and that doubles as a meeting room for the Egg team. The shop display units match the material palette of the rest of the project, creating a plain backdrop from which to exhibit the stock.

Practice Director Jonathan Tuckey said: “It’s been a joy to work on this home and shop for Egg and we’ve enjoyed the ambiguities of the two-sided brief for this live- work space. We have sought to carefully enhance the identity of the boutique while creating a distinct character and atmosphere for the new residence in the attic space above the shop.”