Garden Studio Design in Kennington Near Oxford

This garden studio in Kennington, near Oxford, was designed for a contemporary house on the edge of Bagley Wood. The house itself had already been built to sit comfortably within the woodland setting, with cedar shingles and a simple modern form, so the studio needed to feel like it belonged there too rather than looking like a separate building placed at the end of the garden.

The back garden was essentially natural woodland, which meant there was already a strong setting to work with. The clients wanted a studio they could use for both work and exercise, but they also wanted privacy and the feeling that the building was tucked away among the trees.

The Brief for This Oxford Garden Studio

The clients had seen another garden studio we had designed in South London and wanted something with a similar sense of calm, but adapted to a very different setting. Here, the main challenge was not creating a garden around the building, but placing the building carefully within an existing woodland.

That meant thinking first about the trees and their root systems. The studio had to sit outside the Root Protection Areas, so its position and shape were influenced by what was already growing around it rather than the other way round.

Designing Around the Existing Woodland

Because the clients wanted to feel surrounded by trees, I did not want the studio to sit too openly in the garden. At the same time, it needed to be positioned carefully enough to avoid damaging existing roots and to preserve the natural character of the site.

The woodland therefore determined a lot of the layout. Rather than clearing space and starting again, the building was fitted around the existing conditions, which helped it feel more settled from the beginning.

An L-Shaped Studio for Work and Exercise

The studio was designed in an L-shape, which allowed the interior to divide naturally into two different areas without needing to make them feel completely separate. One part could be used for work, while the other gave the clients space for exercise.

The shape also created room for a decked platform at the entrance, giving the studio a small outdoor sitting area that felt connected to the woodland around it. This helped the building work as more than just an enclosed room and gave the clients somewhere to sit outside when the weather allowed.

Materials Chosen for the Woodland Setting

The exterior needed to blend into the garden as much as possible, so the material choices were kept simple and sympathetic to the house and surrounding trees.

Inside, birch plywood was used on the walls, which gave the studio a warm, natural feel without making it overly rustic. It also suited the woodland setting well because the material felt connected to the trees outside rather than introducing a completely different character.

Planting Around the Garden Studio

The planting around the studio was kept as natural as possible, with native woodland plants used to help the building sit comfortably within the garden.

The aim was not to make the area around the studio feel newly landscaped, but to allow the planting to merge back into the woodland as it matured. This meant the building could remain useful and contemporary while still feeling quiet and unobtrusive within its setting.

A Kennington Garden Studio That Sits Within Bagley Wood

What worked particularly well was the relationship between the studio and the woodland around it. The L-shaped layout gave the clients the two internal areas they needed, while the decked entrance created a useful place to sit outside without taking anything away from the natural setting.

The birch-ply interior also worked very well because it gave the inside of the studio a direct connection to the woodland without trying too hard to make a feature of it. Overall, the studio feels like part of the garden rather than a separate addition, which was exactly what the clients wanted.