about.
Gullaksen Architects is a creative architectural and interior design studio founded by Helene Gullaksen.
Helene has extensive education within design: Diploma in Interior & Furniture Design from BAAC, Norway,
BSc (Hons) Architecture at Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow
and Diploma in Architecture at UEL, winning the RIBA Drawing Price.
We have worked on architectural and residential interior design projects across Europe and the UK.
Our projects range from kitchen or bathroom renovations
to designing and project managing house extensions and complete house builds.
We believe good design is essential in creating the ideal home environment.
We begin with establishing our client's needs and use our design & detailing expertise to create
spaces that work brilliantly and look great.
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how we work.
we talk
Whether you are looking for a bathroom or kitchen renovation or looking to extend your house,
we can help you to create your dream home.
No matter the size of the project or the budget,
tell us your challenges and we will offer unique and creative solutions.
we meet
We'll meet up for an hour or so to listen to your ideas and understand what you want from your home,
but also how you use it. Then we can make the spaces in your home work harder and look fabulous.
Our role is to align with your tastes and enhance them.
Together we'll decide on the package best suited to your needs.
It could be just a planning application or we can take your project through construction;
prepare the tender documents, identify suitable builders and run the job on site.
we design
We start to design for you. Our mission is to always get the best value outcome from your project.
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projects.
testimonials.
"We are truly ecstatic with the space created by Helene"
A truly great experience working with Helena to recreate the entire lower ground floor of our house Inc. kitchen, study/bedroom, bathroom and utility room. Helene was engaged throughout the design, planning, tender process and build/construction phases. We are truly ecstatic with the space created by Helene. Helene brings a wealth of experience, recommended trades/crafts plus those all-important creative ideas to maximise every ounce of space. Discussions around design and choice of materials was always a collaborative engagement we never felt there was an imposing architectural view. Would recommend Helene again and again.
- JULIE DECHAUM & CHRIS SARGEANT
"The end result was wonderful"
Helene renovated our basement and integrated it into our house. The basement had previously been a separate apartment. Helene listens to her clients. She was able to take my vague ideas and turn them into concrete plans. She was practical, had great instincts and was very easy to work with. The end result was wonderful - far better than I had thought was possible.
- REENA MOHAMEDI
"We can thoroughly recommend Helene"
We can thoroughly recommend Helene. She supported us on our substantial extension and complete modernisation of our house in Stoke Newington. From advice prior to purchase through collaboratively working on design concepts, getting planning permission which was less than straightforward, to finding contractors and managing the build through to successful conclusion.
We are more than happy to recommend her.
- NICOLA BRETTLE
"Her input was so important in delivering spaces that we now absolutely love"
Helene was fantastic to work with when doing our house extensions. We thought we knew what we wanted but she was great in that she made us take time to really consider how we wanted to use the space before coming up with some proposals. It sounds like an obvious thing but actually her input then was so important in delivering spaces that we now absolutely love! She then project managed the builder (who we chose and who turned out to be quite challenging!) and was so professional throughout the process. She had the right balance of being positive with them in order to maximise their output but absolutely put her foot down with them when needed! I would highly recommend Gullaksen Architects for design and project management.
- RACHEL AZZOPARDI
"A brilliant architect with a wonderfully creative, empathetic, intuitive and practical approach"
Helene did an amazing job for us. She masterminded our project to rebuild the rear extension on our Victorian house, within conservation area guidelines. The end result far exceeded expectations; our bright and airy kitchen, dining and living area has transformed our home. The project was completed on budget and on time. We lived in the house during the build which could have been problematic, but Helene worked with the contractors to make it as easy as possible for everybody. Her attention to detail is extraordinary, and I came to trust her design instincts 100%. Her ideas for glazing and lighting for example were exhaustively researched and highly successful, and right down to advising on paint colour and drawer handles. Her views on the elements we should not cut corners on were spot on (worktops!) and she was reassuring and constructive when we needed to address unexpected hitches. In short she was always there to support during what is inevitably a demanding process, and I don’t think it could have gone much more smoothly. I wholeheartedly recommend Helene as a brilliant architect with a wonderfully creative, empathetic, intuitive and practical approach, who goes the extra mile to understand and interpret her clients’ needs.
- PRISCILLA CHASE
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