London, England

This 18th-century French Huguenot house in Spitalfields retains a remarkable suite of original features — timber partitions with panelling, refined cornicing, and ornate architraves — all protected within its Grade II listing. The client’s brief put preservation first: every period element was to remain untouched, and any new intervention would be treated as a removable piece of “furniture” rather than an alteration to the fabric. Two kitchen elements were introduced with the restraint of a chest of drawers — freestanding, minimal, and fully reversible — ensuring that the new reads as a gentle guest within a historic structure rather than an imposition upon it. Client: Studio Tashima