The UK's Pashenko Works is the latest addition to the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2023, our annual round-up of exciting emerging architecture studios. The practice co-founders, Mariia Pashenko and Koen Schaballie, show us around their own home and latest project, White Patio House in south London.
Who: Pashenko Works
Mariia Pashenko and Koen Schaballie founded Pashenko Works in 2020. The dynamic architectural practice works between Ukraine, Belgium and the UK with a main office based in south London. After completing a degree in Fine Arts and Architecture in Ukraine, Pashenko moved to the UK in 2009 to study housing and urbanism at the Architectural Association, working for various practices in London over the next decade.
Schaballie studied architecture at the Catholic University of Leuven, the TU Delft and the AA before working on a range of projects in the UK, Netherlands and Belgium. 'Fascinated and inspired by the European city', Pashenko Works was started as a way for Pashenko and Schaballie to develop their own signature approach to architecture that thoughtfully blends Ukrainian, Belgian and UK influences.
Despite the practice being relatively new, Pashenko and Schaballie’s combined experience spans projects of different scales, programmes, climates and cultures. While Pashenko leans towards master planning and concept design stages, Schaballie complements these competences, gravitating towards materiality and construction. Central to their thinking are sustainability and circular economy principles, with designs that are 'considerate, cost-effective and achieve more with less'.
Contemplating architecture as both a profession and a passion, Pashenko Works lovingly pursues projects, 'unlocking the potential of the site, the brief and the context and making the best of those opportunities'.
What: White Patio House
Offering a new prototype for dense urban living, Pashenko Works’ White Patio House is a transformation of a traditional terrace into a patio house for the studio founders' family. The home is made up of five distinct parts; the original Victorian terrace, a glass atrium, new contemporary extensions on the ground and first level, a patio garden and a garden room at the end of the site.
Daylight pours into the home’s central glass atrium, reducing the need for artificial light and conceptually serving as a 'bridge' that connects the new volume to the 'memory' of the old building. Inspired by Belgian brutalism, deliberately exposed blockwork, steel beams and columns 'delineate the whole perimeter of the site as a uniting theme’.
Minimal sliding doors open into the garden, 'dissolving the barriers’ between inside and outside. The off-white corrugated steel sheets that clad the new additions match window frames and door colours, maintaining the carefully considered colour palette of the home. Thinking not only horizontally, but vertically, side walls feature growing climbers, bird houses and bug hotels.
Embodying Pashenko Works’ ethos, sustainable design choices permeate this build –from choosing materials based on their sustainability credentials and capabilities, to including green roofs that regulate urban heating effects and encourage biodiversity. Thoughtfully maximising space within local planning constraints, White Patio House reimagines the experience of living within a congested cityscape.
Why: Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2023
Conceived in 2000 as an international index of emerging architectural talent, the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory is our annual listing of promising practices from across the globe. While always championing the best and most promising young studios, over the years, the project has showcased inspiring work with an emphasis on the residential realm. Now including more than 500 alumni, the Architects’ Directory is back for its 23rd edition. Join us as we launch this year’s survey – 20 young studios from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Congo, Ecuador, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mozambique, Pakistan, Senegal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UAE, the UK, the USA and Vietnam, with plenty of promise, ideas and exciting architecture.
-
LG rolls out its ThinQ AI into a sleek new crew of connected home helpersThe age of thinking washing machines is well upon us, thanks to companies like LG and its ThinQ AI system, which harnesses artificial intelligence for better appliance integration
-
Fashion meets art in Axel Arigato and Alvin Armstrong's colourful collaborationAxel Arigato and Brooklyn-based artist Alvin Armstrong have partnered on a limited, capsule collection of ready-to-wear, accessories and sneakers
-
Where to buy second hand furniture online, according to Wallpaper* editorsFuelled by a shift toward circular design and a rejection of fast furniture, these resale platforms prove that beautiful interiors start with something pre-loved
-
Tempted to try building with stone? This project will convince you of its meritsWelcome to the Future Observatory's The Stone Demonstrator, a project conceived to show off the material's strong points, now on display in West London
-
Step inside this Clerkenwell Rooftop, transformed into a minimalist urban abodeA Clerkenwell Rooftop has been transformed by Studio Felicity Bell into a minimalist modern home, featuring airy interiors and long views of London
-
Richard Seifert's London: 'Urban, modern and bombastically brutalist'London is full of Richard Seifert buildings, sprinkled with the 20th-century architect's magic and uncompromising style; here, we explore his prolific and, at times, controversial career
-
Meet Forefront, a cultural platform redefining the relationship between art and architectureForefront co-founder Dicle Guntas, managing director of developer HGG, tells us about the exciting new initiative and its debut exhibition, a show of lumino-kinetic sculptures in London
-
Corten curves and contemporary flair transform this terraced house in LondonCagni Williams Associates’ sensitive refurbishment of a south London Edwardian house features a striking and sustainable Corten steel extension
-
You may know it as ‘Dirty House’ – now, The Rogue Room brings 21st-century wellness to ShoreditchThe Rogue Room – set in the building formerly known as Dirty House by Sir David Adjaye, now reinvented by Studioshaw – bridges wellness and culture in London's Shoreditch
-
The architectural innovation hidden in plain sight at Frieze London 2025The 2025 Frieze entrance pavilions launch this week alongside the art fair, showcasing a brand-new, modular building system set to shake up the architecture of large-scale events
-
RIBA Stirling Prize 2025 winner is ‘a radical reimagining of later living’Appleby Blue Almshouse wins the RIBA Stirling Prize 2025, crowning the social housing complex for over-65s by Witherford Watson Mann Architects, the best building of the year
