Quiet Spaces

An elegant presentation of interiors for introverts, placing the memorable work of London architect William Smalley alongside buildings around the world that have inspired his practice.

Quiet Spaces places the work of architect William Smalley alongside spaces that have inspired him. Places of private contemplation – calm spaces to read a book or listen to music in, to walk through or simply be in – they are spaces that achieve a rare sense of repose and peace.

From his own Bloomsbury Apartment and projects in the UK, France and New York, the book expands to include the work of other architects: a sixteenth-century villa by Palladio, houses in Mexico and Sri Lanka and the Secular Retreat in Devon by Swiss master architect Peter Zumthor. There are also places of making and displaying art: simplicity in Barbara Hepworth’s garden and studio in Cornwall, and intimacy in Kettle’s Yard gallery in Cambridge.

Specially commissioned photography by Harry Crowder conveys the atmosphere of the spaces. A foreword by acclaimed potter and writer Edmund de Waal records the small, unspoken ways in which we relate to buildings and how they come to have meaning for us.

About the Authors:

William Smalley established his studio in London in 2010 with the simple aim of making beautiful spaces and places. He has since worked around the UK and abroad. He has been described as an architect of rare sensibility, and his work as having the simplicity of a limewashed medieval building, filtered and made lucid through a completely modern sensibility.

Edmund de Waal is an internationally renowned artist and writer, best known for his large-scale installations of porcelain vessels, often created in response to collections and archives. He published his bestselling family memoir, The Hare with Amber Eyes, in 2010. He lives and works in London.

Harry Crowder is a British photographer, based in London and working nationally and internationally, focusing on interiors and architecture. His work seeks to capture the feeling of being in a space. He travelled extensively with William in the shooting of this book.

Hélène Binet is an internationally acclaimed Swiss-French photographer based in London. She studied photography in Rome, and over more than thirty-five years has captured both contemporary and historic architecture. She is a fervent advocate of analogue photography, working exclusively on film.