By holding the private rooms apart, Actual Office lets the main space of Oval House in London stay open and fluid, a 155 square metre pied-à-terre where dark walnut and soft plaster meet full height sheer curtains.
Actual Office, a design studio working between London and Belfast, has completed Oval House as a pied-à-terre conceived for hosting and entertaining. The brief turned on a single division: keep the private spaces separate, and let the main living area stay open, fluid and unobstructed.
The main space is reached through a deep threshold off the entrance hallway, "transforming arrival into a moment of drama through contrasts of light and materiality", as the studio writes. Dark walnut panelling lines the hall and carries through into the main volume, where it lends a rich texture and a tactile warmth.
Around the open plan, full height sheer curtains draw a soft perimeter. They hold privacy while softening the immediacy of the urban environment. The studio keeps the shell deliberately pared back, a neutral backdrop that recedes so that furniture, objects and the client's own habits of living can take precedence.
Richness comes from contrast rather than abundance. A restrained palette sets the warmth of walnut against pale microcement and soft plaster, letting texture carry what colour does not. The furnishings extend the logic, polished chrome surfaces set against soft, rounded forms, while handmade ceramics by Catalin Filip and Katie Boccaccini Meadows punctuate the stillness with a character of their own. The furniture comes from NORR11, &Tradition, Normann Copenhagen, Hay, Ferm Living, The Good Living & Co and Floor Story, with styling by Nina Lilli Holden.
The approach reflects how the studio works: close partnership with specialist makers, and materials chosen for their inherent qualities and their ability to endure, in the service of spaces that enhance the everyday. It is guided by conceptual clarity, craft and a concern for how a place is actually lived in.
