A New Lease of Life

Much of the work we do as a studio is in transforming existing homes to better suit modern lifestyles; from Georgian Villas to historic Townhouses, we regularly work with Listed Buildings and within Conservation Areas and particularly enjoy adding a new chapter to the story of a building.

Every building has its idiosyncrasies which create different challenges and require a different design solution to achieve the best result.

When designing our Gable House project, we created an extension that would complement the original Georgian house while meeting the objectives of the client’s brief and making the most of the building’s unique setting.

While the extension mirrors the form of the original home, each half retains a distinct identity relative to their eras of construction. A glazed link connects the two parts of the house, distinguishing the old and the new. The result is a house that expresses the character and tradition of the original villa but also has the functionality and generous open-plan living spaces only found in contemporary homes.

Sometimes a more radical approach is required, as in our Den project. When we first visited the site, the 150-year-old stone walls and old structural timbers were in poor condition but had a unique quality that couldn’t be replaced. The rich palette of materials had aged over time and the client’s ambition was to retain this character and atmosphere as a core part of the new design.

Retaining the original materials internally and upgrading the building fabric to provide better insulation and weatherproofing was a significant design challenge. This led us to create a new external ‘insulated jacket’ for the building with weatherproof metal cladding, turning the conventional model of internal insulation and exterior stonework inside out and creating a unique interior and exterior.

These are just some examples of the many ways in which existing buildings can be adapted, improved, and celebrated to create exceptional contemporary homes.