A building project. A studio and a home. The architect and builder Cassion Castle worked very closely with us. The main requirement:'A place of calm'. It sits hidden behind the shops in Bethnal Green in a tiny street next to garages used by the market traders. The Bangladeshi supermarket, the pizza shop and the vegetarian curry house wrap themselves around the site on three sides. Only one south facing façade can be manipulated freely. And with greater freedom than is normally permitted by planning departments owing to its "back alley" status; tatty and unkempt. It's a place that no one cares too much about. Gritty and tough. Cobbled stones, discarded chicken wings, rusty garage doors, graffiti, crushed and soggy cardboard boxes. Any development is seen as an improvement and is welcomed. But one step up from the street, inside, the individuality and non-conformity permitted in cities kicks in. It is a refuge, a sanctuary, a quiet place. But equally it too is a place of industriousness, just a different kind.

Architect: Cassion Castle Architects
Photography: Keith Collie

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