N22: A kitchen on wheels

A small, locally listed, Victorian railway cottage in a conservation area that has been bought to replace a family home. The owner needed more space than the cottage provided: she wanted smaller cellular rooms day to day, but also the space to welcome the whole family back together for Sunday lunch. A brief that seemed to contradict itself.

We have created a house that responds to her needs. Each room within the house is deliberate and purposeful: the cosy individual spaces make use of every turn. At the centre, a simple trick to make the space more than it appears: the ability to change it for the occasion by moving normally immoveable features. What could have been a division between the kitchen and living room has become a piece of furniture that provides essential functions for both rooms. The cloakroom quietly welcomes you; an end becomes a desk; a face becomes a bookcase and a side becomes the cooker and cupboards. Each piece we crafted to respond to its function, celebrating the incidental moments of home life.

But these seemingly permanent features have been given a lightness and mobility, we have given them the ability to transform: like any piece of furniture, it can move wholly to the side. Yet, it doesn’t lose its function: a feast can still be created as the family share a single space.