This project concerned an existing house built in the 1980’s, which although generously proportioned, was beginning to show its age in terms of décor. The Clients wanted to extend their kitchen area and add a further bedroom with en-suite as well as remodelling and making changes to the layout of the existing house in order to allow it to better suit their needs.

The result of this brief was 2 extensions. The first involved opening up an existing family room and the kitchen into one large space and extending this outwards to create a huge kitchen and dining area. The existing roof was stripped back and extended outwards and 3 rooflights were installed to flood the heart of this large space with daylight. To the dining side of this space is a long wall looking on to the garden; this is almost wholly made up of sliding-folding doors which open up into the newly formed courtyard, and when opened, blur the boundaries between house and garden.

The second extension consisted of a master bedroom and en-suite. This extension is situated perpendicular to a row of bedrooms accessed by a long corridor in the original layout. The decision was made to try to minimise the visual length of this corridor, both from the outside and inside, by placing the bedroom extension at its end to form a courtyard. This was a very successful strategy in that it defined and rationalised a formerly rather lost space and also created a very functional and spacious patio with a sense of enclosure. The bedroom features double patio doors to each side so has relaxing views to the garden and courtyard.

The extensions were designed to be in keeping with the existing house, adding to it in a quiet way, rather than attempting to make any type of bold statement. Inside is a different story- the house is now uncompromisingly modern!