Low-cost backyard studio can host music recitals and guests

Tiny backyard dwellings are an easy way to add extra functionality to a property, whether that’s with an office, yoga studio, or in the case of this imaginative project in Newcastle, Australia: a music studio and recital stage that can also become a guesthouse when the sofa-bed is fully extended.

Designed by Australian firm m3architecture, the project lets a string instrument teacher move his classes and studio from a bedroom in the main house to its own space in the backyard. Though the architects went in with a limited budget—using economical materials like plasterboard and fiber cement for walls and cladding—the design is nonetheless inspired.

The structure, which has a 10-foot-plus ceiling for better acoustics, takes a page from Finnish modernist Alvar Aalto’s Finlandia Hall, merging a rectilinear white exterior with deep blue accents on the inside. The front facade, with its house-shaped porch, turns vernacular into an eye-catching modern stage.

“The result is a public building in a backyard; a fibro shed with international aspirations; a place for lessons, concerts or quiet contemplation,” the architects write in the project statement.

Via: Dezeen