The brief called for a new kitchen and dining area, so that the house has a greater connection into the re-landscaped garden. The existing spaces were re-planned to flow seamlessly into a new sunspace that opened directly into the garden.

The large glass sliding pivoting glass door opens up half of the rear glazed elevation, onto a decked area with a reflective pool. A utility room and WC are discretely hidden behind a walnut-clad wall, which also provides additional access into the garden.

We designed the extension to take advantage of the south facing orientation. As the sun tracks around the house from east to west, daylight is captured through the clerestory
windows in the morning and evening, and during the day the water feature reflects dappled light onto the ceiling of the sunspace. We also used a white lye finish to the solid oak flooring to bounce light deeper into the plan.

ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY
Due to the age of the house, the heating and electrics for the house were completely upgraded as part of the works and the utility room houses the new energy efficient boiler and HW system. In order to mitigate the effect of run-off from the new roofs, rainwater is harvested in a novel way. The rainwater from all of the roofs drains into a butt concealed behind the existing WC and utility room, which then overflows into the water feature. When the water feature is full, this has an overflow channel into the soakaway which is located under the decking.

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