Shades of Grey House was finalist in the AJ Retrofit Awards 2019,
and the Kitchen was finalist in the SBID International Design Awards 2018.
Featured in:
© Grand Designs magazine, January 2018
© Grand Designs magazine, October 2018
Photography; Image 6, 8 to 16, 18, 20 to 30 © JCT Photography;
Full House Tour:
© Matt & Summer, March 2021
Shades of Grey House is a reconstruction and expansion project packed with surprise.
The property was an unremarkable 1930s Arts & Crafts style detached 2-storey suburban house that was tired, dark, cellular and too small. We were asked to re-imagine it to fit a modern family and embody the spirit of indoor/outdoor life-style into a British climate context.
We quickly realised the budget wouldn’t allow a new build. Although not in a conservation area, the Planners resisted any major rearward expansion. We overcame this using our skill in permitted development to preserve and enhance 3 of the 4-square original layout, while rebuilding & expanding the fourth quadrant and bringing in the side garage.
Internally, a loft extension accommodates a new master bedroom floor (with dressing room & en suite) and the first-floor internal walls are rearranged to integrate storage. The ground-floor is opened up with a new staircase, while rear & side extensions create space for a generous, full-width, open-plan family living space (including kitchen and dining) opening to the rear garden and a giant landscaped courtyard -defined by a new pavilion annex at the far end. The existing garage is converted into an annex for visitors, and a grass-roofed studio/gym is housed in the pavilion. The resultant gives horizontal light-filled expansiveness to the house and opens the staircase and floors to landscape and sky.
Externally, new porches on the original Arts & Crafts street-side façade hint at what can be found beyond. The rear of the building is a formalised cascade of grey modern boxes that reach to the landscape and terminate with the pavilion (that appears to have escaped to the bottom of the garden).