The existing house had a rear, 1.7 m wide (or narrow), side-return extension with a galley kitchen sandwiched in the gap between the brickwork walls of the rear outrigger and the party wall to the neighbouring house. The extension floor was lower than the living room in the outrigger, had an uninsulated bituminous felt covered timber joist flat roof spanning the gap, and only a timber-framed multi-pane single-glazed door and a plastic rooflight for glazing, so was cold, dark, badly ventilated, and disconnected from the rest of the house and the back garden.

The extension skillfully creates space, not by adding more, but maximizing the existing. The existing extension was demolished and an opening was formed in the brickwork wall of the outrigger. The existing rear wall was replaced with a pre-patinated black standing seam zinc sheet clad one, the existing rear door with a wider powder-coated aluminium-framed double-glazed window, and the existing rooflight with a longer double-glazed one.

A rainwater spout and chain drain into a gulley in the pot planted sunken patio by the kitchen window encourage appreciation even of grey wet days outside.

The extension makes a virtue of the different floor levels with an island at sitting table height on the living/dining area side in the outrigger and a couple of steps down at standing worktop height on the kitchen side in the extension. Floors are oiled engineered oak parquet and linoleum, walls and ceilings are sealed plaster, with painted timber joists and plywood in the extension, and built-in joinery is made with white oiled birch plywood.

A bench window seat in the kitchen, vertical slot window for the armchair in the living area, and bench seat in the dining area with an oversized “mouse hole” cat tunnel and flap, allow all members of the family to now come together to cook, dine, drink, work, make, or simply sit and hang out.

Photography by Martina Ferrera