Finchley Park

Finchley Park is an exercise in efficiency. The project focusses on extending the charming and diminutive cottage to create a spacious, bright, airy kitchen big enough for entertaining and offering easy connection to the lush and mature garden. A simple, geometric extension of Staffordshire Blue brick compliments the forms of the surrounding cottages. The contrast of colour and texture highlights the extension as the focus of a new composition. The blue brick was chosen for its distinct colour and texture, durability, sustainability, and relative affordability. It forms the principal element providing contrast between the old and the new, the inside and the outside. Custom made brick “specials” form an inset piece of wall and an asymmetrical composition of quarters. Consideration and precise setting out means there are no cut bricks in the principal elevation. The asymmetrical arrangement and depth of the elevation provide a sense of firmness and permanence. The investment in the continued utility of the cottage extends beyond the use of locally made, high quality brick. Restoring the cottage included insulating the ground floor and loft, and installing new elements that exceed the requirements of building control. Practically, the project is a small house that needed to be renovated on a small budget. The client’s brief required space to be flexible, to allow for children and grandchildren to visit and to stay. The house also needed to feel safe, but not enclosed, isolated or lonely.