The original house had previously been poorly extended to simply provide an additional bedroom and bathroom inconveniently located between the living space and garden. The client had a strong desire to retain as much of the existing structure and building fabric as possible for both financial and sustainability reasons.

Our approach was to transform the existing space into an exciting new open plan living area by building a new enlarged vaulted roof, introducing large aspect glazing, and allowing the existing building form and fabric to shine through.

A process of allowing form to follow function was adopted across all areas; the poor condition of the plaster on the original brickwork came off during the heavy construction work therefore the brick was left exposed; the only way to fit a kitchen island within the existing footprint was to design a highly bespoke sail shaped worktop that was usable and fitted within the traditional Victorian bay window; a kitchen extractor was left exposed as the existing ceiling structure did not allow for the ductwork to be concealed without compromising head height.