Architect: studioKAP chartered architects
Client: Private
Contractor: Standard Construction
Contract sum: £530,000
Completed:Practical Completion March 7th 2013
Contract type: Traditional Main Contractor
Context: Suburban
No. of homes:1
Cost per sqm: £1,600
Key Aims and Objectives
To make physical the needs and aspirations of our client by creating additional space for their growing family living in an existing Victorian villa. To create an enhanced sense of quality in those spaces within the house that would support the twin needs of gathering together as a family as well as individual privacy. To recalibrate the existing villa architecturally in such a way that existing and new spaces were meaningful to each both other externally and internally, both from a formal perspective and from a spatial flow perspective.
Key Challenges and Opportunities Posed by the Site
A conservation context, a setting where the public view to the house is from above and the delicate matter of knitting together old and new architecture all posed challenges. The problem was unlocked by three key architectural moves. One was to remove an existing one story rear extension. Another was opening up one space within the existing footprint to the roof. The third was to propose a new slate clad wing of accommodation on the westerly side. This allowed a discreet, seamless and convincing roofscape with the existing house when viewed from the street and facilitated a new spatial sequence internally.
Future Proofing
Whilst the house is designed for a particular family, it also addresses the general needs of family life, namely sociability and privacy. Externally, the extension takes careful consideration of existing landscape features and views as well as the form and material palette of the existing house. The intention is to create a ‘warm handshake’ both internally as well as externally between old and new. There is a conscious attempt to blur the threshold between one and the other, an approach which we feel will endear the new complex more successfully to the present as well as future inhabitants.