Month: October 2017

The brief for this typical Victorian terrace in the heart of Petersfield conservation area in Cambridge, was for a new open plan kitchen and dining space at the back of the house, to replace the cramped existing kitchen. The defiant 8m long back extension stretches out into the long and narrow garden, and is sliced in the middle with a glass slot that defines the two functions and brings in sun and daylight into the depth of the spaces throughout the day.

With a growing family, a sympathetic loft conversion is achieved with a subtle raising of the ridge, and by softening the loft volume with the use of the Mansard principle. Completed winter 2013.

Next door to the one of our completed projects in the Petersfield area in Cambridge, a young and growing family wanted a spacious, open plan eating and cooking area and a functional zone for a utility room, ample storage and a cloakroom for coats and muddy shoes.

With recent additions on the first floor to the full width of the house beyond the original garden elevation, any ground floor extension towards the garden needed to address the badly daylit space located underneath. This area lent itself to providing the much needed utilitarian zone the client was after. We also used this darkness as a dim anti-chamber to the daylight bathed, garden embracing new family living space. Clutter discretely disappears behind minimalist panelled cupboards lining this drama inducing ‘threshold’. Completed summer 2015.

Photos © Alessandra Spairani

The Butler house consists of the remodelling of part of the ground floor of a three-storey Victorian terraced house in the Romsey Town Conservation Area, home to an artist and his family.

The client’s brief may have been modest in scale but it had high aspirations. We were asked to reorganise and enlarge the existing ground floor kitchen and dining area at the rear of the house to create a daylit living and kitchen area with a greater visual connection to the garden.

A side extension to the existing kitchen with a sloping structural glass roof infill has put to better use the existing dark under-utilised side return. With a new sloping glazed roof, the height of the party wall is restrained thus minimizing impact on the neighbouring property. A new reading room juts into the back garden. Along with internal and external built-in seating protected by a deep projecting overhang, the garden room is a haven of seclusion that will be enjoyed all year round. Completed winter 2016.

Photos © Alessandra Spairani

Situated in Romsey Town, our clients had a clear idea of their brief from the outset. The garden extension that is to house a new kitchen and family living and social space, will have a generous floor to ceiling height to match the existing Victorian ground floor to ceiling height. Space use and configuration will offer flexibility, and light will be abundant, particularly direct sunlight throughout the day to fill the new back extension. In addition, our clients asked us to reconfigure their existing awkwardly accessed bedroom loft and add an en-suite.

Early consultations with the next door neighbour indicated that the new party wall height had to match the existing height. The design was about reconciling almost opposing pulls: height generosity with height restriction, ample daylight and sunlight while controlling excessive solar gains, resulting in a dynamic outline both in elevation and in plan. Planning permission granted July 2016.

The client for this house wanted to replace an existing derelict building with a contemporary family dwelling on a sloping rural site in Yorkshire.

The accommodation will be arranged over two floors, with the main living area with full height glazing on the first floor to maximise light and views down a steeply sloping site to the open country side beyond. The ground floor, built into the slope, will contain bedrooms and utility rooms.

The building will to be clad externally in timber, and passive environmental design principles will be incorporated into the building including ground source heat pumps.

This study was undertaken to investigate options for a modular low cost three bedroom family housing unit. The unit was designed to allow for construction in various configurations from individual housing units, terraces and courtyards depending on the site configuration and orientation.