Vulcan Terrace

The addition reuses the footprint of a former lean-to garage with a width of just under 2m by an 8m length. It provides an art studio and a bathroom at ground floor level, future-proofing the house for its new owner. At upper level a writing room sits on the mezzanine overlooking the double-height space. The generous vertical volume makes up for the narrow floor plan.

The original cottage stands in the shadow of its wider and taller neighbour on the south side. With a simple move, the new extension transforms the feel of the place. Daylight filters down from long skylight sitting above the exposed rafters, generously distributed within the extension and further into the house. With a simple material palette and carefully crafted details, the extension enhances the existing fabric.

The challenge of the narrow site was overcome by keeping some fluidity in the floor plan. Rooms overlap, expand and shrink as the day goes. The bathroom opens up to get a view through to the patio, the studio can be isolated from the living with a sliding door, and suddenly we experience three different rooms or only one according to the client’s needs. The writing room tucked on the mezzanine offers a vantage point to experience the volume at its fullest.

Annual CO2 data was not provided