PULLMAN COURT APARTMENT
Designed in 1937 by Sir Frederick Gibberd, Pullman Court is one rare example of modernist architecture in London and south of the river Thames.
With the layout unchanged since the 1930s but the totality of the original integrated furniture and features erased by previous unsympathetic refurbishments, the methodology adopted to renovate this two bedroom flat was not that of restoration. Rather, the opportunity arose to sensibly develop some of the themes and ideas of the modernist movement.
By using a contemporary idiom, the forms envisaged by Gibberd could be re-created, such as built-in furnitures in finely textured white laminated marine plywood, with the edges sealed and left exposed, which were cleverly arranged to maximise the available space.
Moreover, Scandinavian oversized beech plywood flooring was used throughout to emphasize the functional distribution of the rooms.
By removing layers of multicolored paint, the rusted patina of the original metal door frames was revealed and displayed, in an oriental-like appreciation of all objects of beauty that are augmented by the marks of weather.
Designer classics, such as the Parentesi luminaire and the Mezzadro stool, both by Achille Castiglioni, and ceramics by Ettore Sottsass, are playfully used to counterbalance the predominantly white interior.
Private
Streatham, London
Completed, 2009
56 sqm
Piergiorgio Borgia
Gianluca Maver
Francesco Pierazzi
