Catford Terrace Extension

A compact, energy-efficient extension turns this charming house into something special. New space to the rear floods the inside with natural light, provides a more enjoyable kitchen, and creates a much stronger connection between the home and the garden.

Our clients approached us to work with them to update the house so that the Victorian property could better accommodate their lifestyles. Victorian homes are well known for their flexibility but often do not provide the amount of space we want for contemporary kitchens. This house had previously been altered, with a conservatory added to the rear, but this poorly built space was rarely used, and just served to reduce light to the main house and reduce the connection to the garden. The plan was, therefore, to remove this conservatory and add a new, smaller extension, that made a better quality, more efficient space.

Our energy-conscious clients carefully deconstructed the conservatory and found a buyer to ensure it would go on to a new life rather than to landfill. A new, low-carbon, super-insulated extension is proposed, extending the existing room rather than making a new one. In this way, a proper kitchen is created, with distinct dining and seating spaces to suit the social way that they use these spaces. Generous windows and rooflights are proposed to ensure natural light floods the inside spaces, while a sedum roof helps to keep the heat in.

A key challenge in this project was dealing with the nearly one metre level change between the inside and outside spaces. An internal level change was avoided due to our client’s desire for spatial flexibility, so instead a new terrace is created at the same level as the inside space, with a series of planters and decking plateaus to transition down to the garden level where a new bench forms the anchor to a new outside social space. The extension reflects this breaking down of the space, articulated as two stepped, cedar-clad boxes that reduce the visual mass of a single form extension.