Unashamedly Contemporary Courtyard Extension | ArchitectureLIVE

This three-storey period property originally had a dark and impractical ground floor and had lost much of its garden to several rear extensions. An pre-cast concrete garage, a shed and canopies also cluttered the side of the house.

The clients approached ArchitectureLIVE with a brief to provide badly needed energy improvements for the whole house to lower energy bills and improve the comfort of living. The period home required extensive internal reconfigurations to make the layout cater for modern living, which included a contemporary ground floor extension. This new, partially open-plan accommodation is housed in a courtyard extension.

The clients permitted the demolition of all the existing rear extensions allowing for the optimum positioning of the new accommodation alongside the existing property and orientated towards the south facing garden, returning the garden to ts original size.  

ArchitectureLIVE’s new extension provides a study, family room, utility and cloakroom, and kitchen-dining room. The clients' request for a contemporary design was met by designing a courtyard layout that takes in the views of an existing mature tree. The property’s existing, generous floor to ceiling heights allowed for 2.6m-high windows and doors, used as an enclosed arcade lining the courtyard, to create new visual links to the garden and across the building. 

For practicality, the striking extension provides a new secondary hallway with built-in, full height storage cupboards with bespoke handles and hinge mechanisms which seamlessly integrate to create an clean look.

The new focal point of the house is the open-plan kitchen and dining room housed in the southerly wing of the extension. With extra-tall windows and tri-fold doors, these rooms are flooded with light and feature a vaulted ceiling under the generous zinc butterfly roof which ends in a roof overhang to control heat gained from the sun. 

Rendered facades and a metal roof were the chosen materials to match the existing. Nevertheless, the application of the new material details is unashamedly contemporary to meet the clients’ brief.  

A favourite of ArchitectureLIVE’s design is the cross over of the existing hallway and the new. Renovated floorboards and a built-in bookcase seamlessly meet the new extension and together with the new windows capturing the courtyard views, expel any memories of the former dark and unloved interiors of this now newly invigorated family home.