In 2017 Walters & Cohen was commissioned to undertake an extension to a house in north London. This is not just any house, but that belonging to our practice manager, Rachel, who clearly waited until we won our first Building of the Year award to trust us with her home!
The brief was to build a rear extension that modernised and enlarged the kitchen and dining space, with seating for 12, contemporary cupboards and fittings, and ample counter space and storage.
The house was built in the late 19th century, and piecemeal alterations over the decades resulted in a mishmash of different types of brick and windows on the rear facade, cluttered further by several plastic downpipes. We proposed a single-storey extension that makes use of the side return and does not encroach on the garden.
The glazed roof extension allows daylight to reach into the deepest parts of the ground floor. It is connected to the existing house by exposed steel beams, providing a contemporary feel but at the same time reflecting the Victorian tradition of expressing structural elements. The sliding patio doors create a wonderful connection with the garden, which was thoroughly tested when the entire office and contractors came to celebrate the project’s completion and, more importantly, Rachel’s superior cooking skills.
