Canal House

The modern extension and landscape elements create apertures that frame views of activity on the adjacent canal. Referencing the work of the Italian architect Carlo Scarpa, an inverted box rooflight punctuates a dining space, just inside the extension from the garden. A sitting area in the open-plan kitchen is similarly zoned by another rooflight, this one conversely set into a deep reveal, framing a view of the sky. The depth of this rooflight opening contributes to the perception of the ceiling and roof as a solid white plane in the architectural composition, as expressed on the rear elevation. The steel frame of the new structure is exposed, and finished in an intumescent paint that mimics the colour of the standard red oxide primer—as if the project is still in the process of construction. Colored films applied to glazed elements recall the polychromatic lead-light front door of the original house. The ceiling and roof plane is expressed as a rectilinear white plastic solid, sitting on the perpendicular vertical planes of brick and render that form the rear elevation. Views out of the extension are mediated by four different types of aperture—a recessed rooflight, an inverted rooflight, frameless gazing, and a clear opening when the doors are open. The view is then further shaped by the garden fences, and storage unit, which frame a view of the canal. The new structure is concealed in the extension, and expressed in the existing house, the finished paint colour recalling the oxide primer at the time of installation. The staircase references the Stack sculptures of Donald Judd, while polychromatic guarding recalls the lead-light original front door.