Kentish Town House

The existing house had a convoluted ground floor layout with poor access between the kitchen and dining space. The architect was asked to enhance the relationship between the house and the garden, to improve the flow between ground floor spaces and to introduce a new bathroom within the outrigger at first floor level. This project was completed in tandem with a second contract that involved improving the energy efficiency of the main house.

The default approach to improving Victorian homes is the side return infill. This approach certainly delivers quantity of space but often at the expense of quality. All too often the middle of the plan becomes gloomy and poorly ventilated and the extension suffers from the planning constraints placed on eaves height along the boundary. This project aimed to do more with less.

The modest plan area of the extension meant it could be built much higher thereby allowing the dining area to literally extend past the main rear wall and form an open overlapping relationship with the kitchen. This move also reduced the side yard to the point it felt more like a connecting space.

A glass roof light over the extension delivers light into the middle of the plan while patio doors provide a stronger view to the garden area than was available before, as well as plenty of ventilation.

The previously cramped kitchen has been transformed by the connection to the dining area, and by the corner window at its other extremity, which has the effect of pulling the garden into the room. Limited floor to ceiling height has been alleviated by the used of exposed floor joists above which also add character to the space.