London Plan Space Standards Spreadsheet

Studio 425 are pleased to present the ‘London Housing Design Guide Spreadsheet by studio425’, a handy new tool for measuring designs for new homes against the London Plan space standards. 

Garden Design Visualisation with Custom Texture Maps

Studio 425 recently completed a series of images for an architect-designed garden. The proposal, for a private home in South West London, includes new planting, decking, sculpture and a pergola with outdoor seating. The landscaping and structures are all subject to permitted development rights, meaning that no planning permission is needed to carry out the works.

Sketchup Model for a Planning Application in Croydon Borough

We are pleased to present a series of perspective views created in support of a planning application in the London Borough of Croydon. The scenes show ground level views of a proposal for new homes on a sloping site in South London.

Aerial views also show the new proposal in relation to an earlier application for the site and demonstrate how the scheme has responded to earlier reasons for refusal.

3D Modelled Perspectives of a Planning Application in Hounslow

Studio 425 were recently commissioned to create a series of first person perspective views in support of a planning application in the London Borough of Hounslow. The views explore the relationship between an existing church spire and a proposed 7 storey apartment building.

Introducing the Bad Kerb Map of Wapping

The Bad Kerb Map is an attempt to crowdsource information about barriers to mobility for wheelchair users and parents with buggies in and around Wapping in East London.

The project was started by architect John Inglis, after a discussion hosted by network Wapping, a grassroots group looking to promote neighbourhood planning in the area. The map, which includes photos of problem junctions geo-located on Google Maps, was launched with a series of photos taken by John Inglis using a typical camera phone.

Wedding Invitations Designed, Illustrated and Printed by Studio 425 and Owen Pomery

Studio 425 recently collaborated with independent illustrator Owen Pomery to produce custom designed and illustrated invitations for a private wedding.

Bespoke Illustrations for a Wedding

Studio 425 are pleased to present these bespoke illustrations for a wedding party. The hand drawn illustrations describe the table names for the wedding breakfast.

Each image was developed following in depth conversation with the bride and groom about table arrangements and common interests between the guests.

Using Photosynth Desktop to Create DIY Streetviews

Photosynth Desktop allows you to stitch together photographs from many viewpoints and move between them in real time. In theory, this could be used to create home-made, DIY versions of Google's Streetview. This article looks at Studio 425's attempt to create a home made Streetview of Watney Market, in East London.

Photosynth Desktop builds on the panorama software and smart-phone apps, reviewed by Studio 425 in February 2013. The Desktop software create 'synths' composed of multiple 2 dimensional photographs. The software creates a virtual model of the photographed scene and displays the whole scene as a series of overlapping images.

Road Testing the Photosynth Panorama App

Microsoft's Photosynth Panorama App is a mobile phone app that lets you capture 360 degree panoramic photos. These can be viewed as swipable panoramas on your iPhone, iPad or Windows Phone, shared online or exported as simple jpgs.

The Most Useful Maps for Architects

Online map services like Google Earth and Streetview have revolutionised the way architects collect information on development sites. But they are just the tip of the iceberg. This article looks at how internet giants like Google and Bing have created the ‘virtual site visit’, while smaller, niche services provide other vital information, like flood risk zones, post codes and relevant planning policies.

Sketchup Model of Remodelled Tudor Mansion

Following a number of recent visualisation commissions, Studio 425 are pleased to present a virtual model of a Tudor mansion and private home in the Hertfordshire borough of Broxbourne.

London Buildings Grow, Change and Disappear on Google Street View Video

Studio 425 are pleased to present the short video ‘Time Travel with Google Street View’, in which London’s buildings appear to grow, change their façades and disappear completely, thanks to the quirks of Google Street View.

Free Sketchup Models – a High Quality Furniture Collection

The Trimble Sketchup 3D Warehouse showcases thousands of free Sketchup models available for download and is an invaluable resource for Sketchup users of of all abilities. However, finding the right component for use in your own Sketchup model can be laborious as the quality of free models ranges wildly. With that in mind, Studio 425 have created the Designer Furniture collection, a high quality collection of designer furniture pieces, ready for download and ideal for use in design models and animations.

Virtual Model of a Home and Garden

Studio 425 recently prepared a virtual 3D model of a private home and garden in the London Borough of Merton. The site, a single family home in an affluent area near Wimbledon Park, slopes dramatically and includes a number of terraces, embankments and retaining walls. The site topography made it hard for the home owners to visualise how to make best use of their available space.

Planning for Localism; a Community Workshop in Elmbridge

The Coalition’s flagship Localism Act 2011 aims to make planning decisions more democratic and more efficient by involving local communities in local planning policy.

Elmbridge Borough Council, in affluent North Surrey, recently hosted a community workshop event to ask residents of Molesey what sort of development they’d like and where the council should be investing money from the Community Infrastructure Levy, or CIL.

Flood Risk Planning Policy Explained in Plain English

‘Flood Risk’ sounds dangerous. Two words suggesting disaster and uncertainty might be enough to put off all but the most seasoned designers and developers. 

In fact, much of what you need to know about developments in areas at risk of flooding can be found in a simple table within the Technical Guidance to the National Planning Policy Framework.

Architectural Perspectives of a Domestic Rear Extension

 We are pleased to present these perspective views of a domestic rear extension for a family home in the London Borough of Richmond. Working with an architect's general arrangement plans and elevations, supplied in DWG format, John Inglis produced these artists' impressions as part of the architect's design development and design communication process.

3D Walkthrough for Bathroom Interior

Studio 425 is pleased to present this 3D walkthrough for a high-end bathroom interior for a domestic extension. The walkthrough lets anyone with a web browser enter a virtual 3D model and explore the bathroom design from eye level.

Using simple controls you can walk around, look up, down, left and right and switch to pre-prepared views.

Road Testing the Sketchup Web Exporter

Google Sketchup’s 3D Web Exporter allows you to generate web-based 3D views of your Sketchup models, that can be rotated and viewed from 360 degrees. We took the Sketchup Web Exporter plugin for a test drive to see how easily it can be used.

Hand Drawn Architectural Illustrations from Owen Pomery

A new website, Analogue Vision presents the distinctive architectural illustrations of Owen Pomery, a freelance illustrator based in London. 

The site showcases Pomery’s architectural sketches and includes a new image of Studio 425’s proposal for Greenpeace’s Airplot in the village of Sipson.

Extension Wins Planning Permission in Elmbridge

Studio 425 architect John Inglis recently gained planning permission for a large residential extension to a private home in Elmbridge, Surrey. 

Feasibility Sketch for a Residential Extension

Studio 425 is pleased to present this sketch proposal for an extension to a suburban home in the London borough of Sutton.

If you are interested in extending your home and would like to talk about gaining extra living space, a new open plan kitchen or adding value with extra bedrooms please feel free to contact us. 

You can email studio425@london.com or find John Inglis on twitter as @johnsketches

Understanding Lux and Light Levels

Light levels or illuminance can seem complicated. The human eye can cope with a huge range of light levels, from less than 1 lux (lx) to nearly 10,000 lx. The graphic opposite looks at light levels in lux and what numbers relate to common environments such as reading desks or supermarket aisles.

Thames Gateway Population Projection Graphics

We are pleased to present these original graphics representing the future population of East London and the Thames Gateway.

The figures are based on population projections produced by the Office of National Statistics and were produced by John Inglis.

Recommended Reading: 'The Transition Handbook – From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience' by Rob Hopkins

In his 2008 book, Rob Hopkins argues that peak oil and climate change are inextricably linked, will have a massive impact on all aspects of modern life and an outlines how this 'transition' can be used as an opportunity to improve the economy, our lifestyles, diet, health, and the resilience of local communities.

The Peak Oil theory sensibly states that as there is only so much oil available on this planet, eventually its supply will peak and decline, causing energy costs to rise. Some people argue that this peak in production has already been reached. While the date of the peak is debatable, the inevitability of the peak itself is undeniable and the sooner we prepare for rising energy costs, the better prepared we will be.

Big Building, Little Building – A gallery of contrasting scales in architecture

When discussing new buildings with planners, local councillors or neighbours, people often assume that a new building should not be any taller than its immediate neighbours. Many people assume that a change in scale, say from two storeys to four is inevitably insensitive and damaging to the older buildings.

While this view is popular, it isn't particularly traditional and is arguably a modern manifestation of NIMBYism. It is also very damaging, as the world be a very bland place if every building had to be the same height as its neighbours.

With this in mind we have drawn together an image gallery of buildings that show how little and large buildings can happily sit side by side. We've intentionally concentrated on older buildings, often in desirable or affluent areas of London.

Open Big Building / Little Building in a new tab

View Big Building / Little Building in a larger map

Open Big Building / Little Building in a new tab

RPAs - Planning and Building Near Trees with Root Protection Areas

If you are planning to build near to existing trees, you will need to protect their roots throughout construction and occupation of the building. This is simply done by designating a Root Protection Area around the tree into which the new building does not intrude and contractors do not enter during construction. This article introduces the rules of thumb behind Root Protection Areas (RPAs), how they can be estimated at an early stage.

Outerspace UK nominated for Landscape Institute Award

Outerspace UK Landscape Architects have been nominated for an award by the Landscape Institute.



The nomination recognises Outerspace's work on the Ancient Market Area in Kingston-upon-Thames. Outerspace worked with animators Room60 to produce the short film 'The Spell of the Ancient Market Area', which we are pleased to present, above.

The film combines 3D modelling, historical images, bespoke hand-drawn illustrations, photography and audio recordings from Kingston's lively food market. The film describes Outerspace's design approach to refurbishing the market area and was submitted to the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames as part of an invited competition.

How to add yourself to the Illustrator Map - Simple Instructions

To add yourself to the Illustrator Map follow three easy steps

1 - Add your location
Open bit.ly/illustratormap in a new tab or window.
Click on 'Save to My Places' to save the map to your google places.
Click on 'Edit', which should be top right in the side bar.
Find your location on the map and right-click.
You should see 'Add a Placemark' in the right-click menu.
Select 'Add a Placemark' and give the title as your Twitter @handle.

Outbuildings and Permitted Development Rights

Most houses in England and Wales benefit from permitted development rights that allow homes to be extended without applying for planning permission. Whilst loft conversions and conservatories are the most popular forms of extension under permitted development rights, the General Permitted Development Order 2008 or GDPO is actually most generous where outbuildings are concerned. This article looks at how to get the most out of permitted development rights for outbuildings, garden rooms, summerhouses, garden sheds and home offices.