Glass House

To move or Improve? Home to the Glass family, this 1930's North London brick and pebbled dashed semi was becoming cramped as the family began to grow. The clients had already extended the house in the 1990's with a loft conversion and a matching brick two storey side extension, and a framed glass infill with bi folding doors to the rear. Whilst the upper parts of the house functioned well, the kitchen and dining space quickly became untidy owing to the clunky formation of the kitchen dining space.

The obvious solution would be to move house. However, it quickly became apparent that there was a scarcity of properties the next size up available within the local area, with most requiring complete refurbishments. When considering not only the cost of a purchase, but also the potential cost and disruption of a full refurbishment, stamp duty, fees etc. The family felt stuck.

The main objective was to provide a space where the family could hang out, play, have fun so that the kitchen and dining spaces could be freed up from clutter. Also allowing the reception rooms to be returned to rooms for grown ups. The solution was simply, a basement. A large reinforced concrete box extending out from the spine wall of the main house full width into the garden beneath a newly formed patio. The basement can be read as three bays, defined internally by the structural elements that support the walls of the existing house above and externally by the three large walkover roof lights that sit neatly within the joint lines of the patio.

Starting on the ground floor the first task was to resolve the kitchen and dining area. As the garage was underused the wall separating them both was pushed back and the kitchen reconfigured to get a better flow of space in and around. The framed glazed infill was replaced with a larger structurally glazed box, designed to funnel light down into the basement via the new stair case. The stairs lead you down to a light filled subterranean media room with an acoustic ceiling, a study, guest suite, efficient storage areas and a utility space.