Sobremesa House
Sobremesa House is a minimal home located in London, United Kingdom, designed by Studio McW. The curved marble backsplash catches the morning light, its Violetta stone surface rippling with veins that seem to move like water frozen mid-flow. This single architectural gesture – a sweeping arc that cradles the kitchen’s functional heart – reveals the deeper philosophy behind Studio McW’s transformation of a Victorian terraced house into what they call Sobremesa House. The Spanish word, meaning the time spent lingering at the table after a meal, captures precisely what architects Tom McWilliam and his team have orchestrated: a home where hospitality becomes an art form.
The challenge was formidable. What began as three fragmented bedsit flats needed to become a unified stage for Charlie and Joshua Karlsen’s monthly Friday night dinners, gatherings where their bespoke catering business, Opus 11, comes alive in domestic intimacy. The architects’ response was to strip the building back to its skeletal essence, a process that revealed both structural vulnerabilities and hidden potential. The precarious brick outrigger required complete rebuilding, yet Studio McW saw opportunity in necessity, salvaging the original masonry to create thermally efficient spaces that honor the building’s Victorian DNA while embracing contemporary living.
The design’s genius lies in its choreography of movement. Rather than simply opening up the ground floor, Studio McW created what they describe as “deliberate thresholds” – soft curves and elegant arches that guide visitors through a sequence of experiences. The dining table, capable of seating twelve, occupies a side extension where overhead glazing set with oak joists creates an intimate canopy effect. This technical innovation solves the dual challenge of bringing light deep into the plan while maintaining privacy from neighboring windows, demonstrating how contemporary craft can serve both functional and poetic purposes.
The bespoke kitchen island, carved from a single block of Violetta marble, functions as both workspace and gathering point. Its monolithic presence anchors the open-plan ground floor, while the surrounding cabinetry – crafted by long-term collaborator Idle Furniture – showcases the renaissance of handmade oak joinery in contemporary residential design. The smoked oak’s rich patina creates warmth against the marble’s cool precision, embodying the same material dialogue that defined mid-century Scandinavian design yet feels entirely contemporary.
Studio McW’s material palette reads like a meditation on texture and weight. Timber flooring grounds the interiors with familiar warmth, while polished concrete provides cooling counterpoint. Lime wash walls create surfaces that seem to breathe, their soft texture catching light in ways that synthetic paints cannot match. This material honesty connects the project to Arts and Crafts traditions while serving the practical needs of hosts who understand that atmosphere is as important as flavor.
The stairwell’s double-height void, crowned by a rooflight, transforms circulation into experience. This vertical gesture recalls the great halls of medieval manor houses, where the act of ascending held ceremonial significance. Yet here, the drama serves domestic joy – the ascent to private quarters becomes a gentle transition from public performance to intimate retreat.
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