Extension and reconfiguration

A compact rear intervention

A small architectural intervention creating a much clearer connection between the house and its garden.

Scope: Architecture
Focus: The rear of the house
Status: Completed

The rear of the house as found, and the design prepared for it.

01
As found

The garden on the other side of a glass box

Photographs of the rear as found.

A narrow unused side passage between the house and an outbuilding, covered by a translucent canopy — Existing side nook A narrow slot between the house and the outbuilding, under a translucent canopy, holding a hose reel and a meter box.

The existing lean-to conservatory against the back of the brick house, seen across the lawn — Existing conservatory A white lean-to conservatory against the back wall, occupying the side of the house that faces the garden.

The rear of the property seen from the back gate, looking across the lawn to the conservatory and the paved side passage — From the back gate The whole depth of the plot in one view: level lawn, paving, and the house meeting the garden at a single door.

02
The move

A better edge between the house and the garden.

The design visualisations that follow show a low dark-clad volume across the rear, opening onto a paved terrace through glazing that folds fully away.

Inside, the space reads as one run: kitchen along one wall, table at the glazed end, and a planted slot against brickwork bringing light and greenery into the depth of the plan. A slatted timber wall masks the existing downstairs powder room, and the same language returns to frame the stairs to the top floor.

03
Designed

A single room that ends in the garden

Design visualisations of the proposal.

The proposed kitchen, a long pale run of units under a sage green wall, with a planted slot against retained brickwork and the dining end beyond — Kitchen, design visualisation The whole length of the space in one view. A single unbroken run of units keeps the floor clear, and the planted slot behind the sink is set against brickwork left exposed. Sage on the walls and the yellow-lined shelving are the only colour; everything else is pale and matt.

The proposed dining end, a round table in front of full-height sliding glazing onto the garden, with a fluted timber wall to one side — Dining end, design visualisation The table sits at the glazed end, with the glazing taken to full height and a rooflight washing the ceiling above it. The slatted wall on the left is the face of the existing powder room, absorbed into the new space rather than worked around; the same slatting frames the stairs beyond it.

The proposed extension from the garden at dusk, a dark timber-clad volume with its corner glazing folded fully open onto a paved terrace — From the garden, design visualisation Dark vertical cladding sets the new work plainly apart from the brick above it. Folded fully open, the glazing leaves no frame in the corner, and the terrace with its planted edge joins the room to the lawn.

04
Outcome

A small footprint, spent on the one edge of the house that faces the garden.

Services: Architecture
Key moves: Single-run kitchen, planted slot against exposed brick, full-height glazing, paved terrace

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