David Adjaye: Houses

Architectural Review, The, July, 2005

Dirty House, Shoreditch, built for artists Sue Webster and Tim Noble, one of the disconcerting dwellings from David Adjaye: Houses, edited by Peter Allison: London, Thames & Hudson, 2005, [pounds sterling]29.95. Characterised by formal and material experimentation (and slightly daffy names--Dirty joins Lost, Fog and Elektra), Adjaye's houses are skilful manipulations of domestic space, usually for artists or arty people, on edgy, inner London sites. Wrapped in hermetic skins of dark brick or metal, the houses face down their grotty surroundings, but the tough exteriors conceal a succession of secret, sensual inner realms.

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