Bed Box
Edinburgh
A couple wanted to use first floor reception room as a guest bedroom but also wanted additional private living space. The challenge was to find a design that allowed both functions within the same room.
Rather than accept the convention of fitting wardrobes around the perimeter of the room, a solution was proposed which combined the function of storage with the bed itself. On entry to the room this oak veneered ‘bed box’ appears to be a solid object. It contains the bed (with three large steps up to the mattress) and storage to hide the detritus of the bedroom. The rest of the room is used as a living room with a sofa, piano, fireplace and television. A special space is reserved in the bed box for a seat with hidden shelves similar to a ‘Shetland chair’. These chairs are generally made of timber and have deep side panels stretching up to support a shelf pocket above the sitter’s head where the family bible was traditionally stored.
Awards
Edinburgh Architectural
Association Award 2002
‘We call it our pod’ says client Eileen Francis ‘we can look out over the edges of the pod into the room and out through the first floor window to the oak tree in the garden. The grandchildren love the room and we encourage them to come in and play chopsticks on the piano. They like to play hide and seek in the cupboards under the bed’.
Eileen Francis, client