This apartment on the 26th floor of the Grade II Listed Trellick Tower was sensitively renovated to celebrate the brutalist architectural form, with complemented accents of Japanese style oak joinery pieces. 

 

Atelier Ochre were commissioned by the client to project manage the renovation, bringing together a black book of contractors and specialists to help deliver the project. Having previously owned another apartment in Trellick Tower, the client had a strong vision of the layout and design - down to the historic door handles and lighting design details. 

 

The apartment posed a number of challenges, principally with the difficulty for contractor's access to the apartment from street side, the Listed nature of the building and approvals, restrictions on alterations to services, and inflexibility that inherent comes with a concrete shell. Joinery was restricted to window sill heights wrapping around rooms, giving a more generous sense of space, while providing opportunities for desks, cupboard space or window seats. To contrast the grey concrete, warm oak tones in the joinery and flooring were paired with naturally pigmented clay plaster to humanise the space. 

 

The layout of the apartment was adjusted, opening up the hallway to the living area to remove the sense of a corridor, creating a generous sitting room from two small bedrooms in the end elevation with views out over London, while the kitchen and dining room was moved to the only room with a balcony, acting as an informal garden space during the summer months. Hints to the brutalist design are everywhere, from the aggregate-rich concrete basin vanity, bespoke aluminium lighting fixture, to the staggered arrangement of the parquet flooring - alluding to the staggered strip windows on the Trellick Tower lift core. 

​

Architecture by Buchholzberlin / Interior by Peter Heimer and Client

Photos by Heiko Prigge / On site project management Atelier Ochre