Old New House

Award­ed best use of mate­ri­als in House and Gar­dens Top 50, this exten­sion of a post war brick house in Kew cre­ates a clear delin­eation between the old and the new. With the own­ers in the out­door din­ing and BBQ indus­try, the house required a sig­nif­i­cant out­door enter­tain­ing focus. 

The exist­ing south fac­ing back yard required a solu­tion to acti­vate the out­door spaces and cre­ate a sus­tain­able trans­for­ma­tion of the oth­er­wise dark home. By trans­form­ing the ​‘old’ house into the pri­vate bed­room wing and cre­at­ing a ​‘new’ house at the rear of the prop­er­ty, the liv­ing areas became open and free flow­ing norther­ly fac­ing spaces and the pre­vi­ous­ly south fac­ing back­yard, becomes a sun flood­ed norther­ly gar­den. A long acti­vat­ed cor­ri­dor links the old and the new, wrap­ping the house around a pool and out­door enter­tain­ing area. A new entry was cre­at­ed at the rear of the old house, allow­ing amaz­ing views across the pool upon entry. 

A care­ful mix of con­crete, sol­id tim­ber includ­ing reclaimed fea­ture pieces, steel details and stonework come togeth­er to cre­ate a warm, sophis­ti­cat­ed and robust palate that has been high­ly awarded.