Assemble Sells Their Pioneering Yardhouse

Created by the Turner Prize-winning architects Assemble, Yardhouse was originally built as the practice’s workspace in east London. The building, which was recently disassembled and put into storage, is being sold for £150,000 via The Modern House. Yardhouse is a modular two-storey, three-bay structure, with a square plan measuring 12m x 12m. Assemble configured it with a three-aisle layout, where studios lined the edges and the centre became a double-height atrium. The design of the building reflects an aspiration to create a sociable and collaborative work environment. In theory, the new owner could reinstate the same plan, or adapt it to suit their own needs.

The building has a barn-like timber frame enclosed with an off-the-shelf insulated cladding system. Through utilising off-the-shelf materials and taking an extremely economic approach to construction, the project provides the generous scale, light quality and ceiling heights appropriate for creative uses at a fraction of the cost of a conventional new build. The front façade is hung with beautiful handmade concrete tiles in a variety of pastel colours, giving it a distinct identity, and making it a popular location for London’s Instagrammers who’ve shot countless photos of the unusual structure.

The architects conceived the project to demonstrate how plots with short-term vacancies can be used to provide temporary workplaces, which can be demounted and reassembled elsewhere at the end of the tenancy. It was always intended to be transferable to other sites and contexts. Following its completion in 2014, Yardhouse was featured in numerous publications, including the New York Times and Domus. Assemble have since carried out a number of other innovative projects, notably the transformation of the previously neglected Granby Street in Liverpool. This led to their extraordinary Turner Prize victory in 2015, the first time that an architecture practice has claimed the prestigious British art award.

Images via Assemble