Hollybush House

Hollybush House is located at the end of a quiet cul de sac of pre-war Arts and Crafts houses. The lobby of dark oak panelling and parquet floor leads to a flood of light at the back of the house. The entire back wall of the house is now glass, opening onto a large lawn surrounded by mature trees. The new space is made up of three distinct areas; the kitchen, the dining and the sitting area.

The original house is set nearly a meter above the garden level, and so we have followed this level through. This creates a podium level that the new extension space sits on and cantilevers out over the garden. This is clad in slate, flowing from inside to outside. The kitchen is part concrete, mixed with the same slate.

During hot summer days the new rooflight that brings light to the back of the kitchen space is openable. We also set two low level opening vents at the base of the entire glass wall on the main facade. This sets up a stack effect cross ventilation with the hot air escaping the high level rooflight, pulling in cooler air through the low level vents.

We also designed the garden for this project. A long straight path leads from the edge of the raised deck to the back corner of the garden. Here a BBQ area all made of black eco-deck boarding gives a completely different perspective on the garden – having a diagonal relationship across the lawn to the kitchen at the opposite corner.