Gowanlea

This late Victorian semi-detached family home has been extended in order to create a contemporary open plan kitchen-dining and living space for an ‘Artist’ client who specified warmth, light and functionality as the key elements of the brief.

The former north facing lean-to extension, housing a kitchen and dining area was severely restricted in space for a family home. An earlier uPVC conservatory on the north facing elevation had attempted to create additional space but due to its construction was generally either too hot or too cold to use.

The original house is of distinctive appearance, with an expressed dormered mansard roof form. The extension is designed to acknowledge the original form but add a simplified, well-proportioned and logical rectangular element which expresses itself through careful detailing.

The solution creates a visually attractive and warm environment which is not just functional as a kitchen and dining area, but makes a delightful space for family and social gatherings. The main elements enable a visual interaction between north, south and west elevations. The requirement for a bespoke kitchen enabled the opportunity for a harmonious link between the original property and the new extension. After living in the extension for over a year the client has particularly referenced the aesthetic quality of the living space including pools of sunshine due to strategically placed windows, the flow of movement through the property and externally, the visual effect of the silvering of the silky modified timber cladding. A notable reduction in heating costs is also a direct side effect of the increased thermal properties included in the design process, with constant temperatures being maintained.

The design also manipulates and articulates inherent visual and functional links between the new internal and external spaces. The rear garden incorporated an existing garage, high stone walls and timber fencing and included an active well near the rear of the existing kitchen. The rear garden has been replanned and simplified; the external hard landscaping and integration of water and formal seating areas are directly related to the simple, Kebony timber clad form of the extension. Much of the original stone from the lean-to was reused to create a harmonious link between the original house and the extension.

The timber theme was brought inside with the use of oak flooring and the kitchen design used routered plywood to reflect the unusual external cladding approach. A bespoke kitchen design using Corian completed the unified internal space.