Lacy Brick | Pamphilon Architects

This is a quirky house, an Edwardian terrace which has been sliced off at an angle by the adjoining road, resulting in an unusual internal layout and small kitchen which is rather out of balance with the rest of the house. In consultation with the client we proposed a volume that gave her the additional space she needed whilst not destroying the character of the original house. In particular we did not want the extension to intrude on the dining room which already felt perfectly formed with it's original stain glass doors leading out onto the patio, or to remove the original timber dresser which sat in the small kitchen. This meant keeping the volume of the extension as compact as possible.

We felt that a brick addition would be the most sensitive to the original building and knew that we wanted a red brick to compliment the existing red brick headers above the patio doors and red bricks of the chimney and side elevations. We also chose to define the height of the extension by lining up the parapet with the top of the red brick header above the patio doors. This helped to tie the composition of the new and the old.

The client, Lisa is a fashion designer and has a love of texture, colour and fun which we wanted to convey within the project. Having chosen to keep the extension compact we wanted the extension to be as 'jewel' like as possible whilst being very careful with the budget which was tight. In conjunction with Lisa we decided upon laying the bricks in a flemish bond with protruding headers creating what we referred to together as a 'Lacy Brick' pattern.

For the specific brick itself we settled upon 'Hectic Red' bricks by Weinerberger as they have a lovely crumbly texture and uneven surface with extravert splotches of colour and also have a solid face making them suitable for the projecting headers. Lisa was closely involved with the selection of the specific brick and she knew instantly that this was the brick for her! We chose the 'Denton White' mortar by Remix which has a soft white texture which we felt complimented the Hectic Red bricks softening them and helping them to blend with the host building.

The main structure of the extension is timber frame with ply cladding lapped and glued on either side, acting as a beam to span over the corner window opening. The windows and doors are made of English Oak by a local joiner. A timber frame was chosen as a cost effective and sustainable option whilst the bricks themselves provide a durable and visually sensitive external skin. Technically the precast lintels were the most difficult to coordinate as these had to follow the pattern of the brickwork elsewhere and required very careful site measurements.

A sedum roof is due to be installed in the spring.

This project was a true collaboration between ourselves and our client and has been great fun and most importantly Lisa is delighted with her extension and new kitchen!