Theberton House

The idea was to convert the garage at the end of the garden into the guest suite and connect this back to the main house below the garden via the existing vaults. We put the guest sleeping space in the lower floor and this gave us a garden room for the main house at ground level. This space faces south so gets the sun and has sliding folding doors to open to the garden. The guest shower room is in one of the old vaults and maintains the arched ceilings. The main space is used as the childrens play area.
The new lower floor is lit by a line of rectilinear walk on roof lights. These are co-ordinated with the steps in the ceiling below to allow a drama to the space. The glass is covered with a dot-screen print - this makes the surface non slip and also gives a bit more of a sense of security when standing on them! Each roof light is co-ordinated with the space below and the stairwell is supplemented by an additional rooflight directly over it in the garden room roof. The garden is designed as integral to the architecture. The paving slabs are on adjustable feet that allows them to be perfectly level whilst the rainwater flows through the joints. The garden room roof collects together its rain and channels it to flow along the low planter wall. The idea is to place a large water butt or pool at the end of this. Planters are left along the edges - some deep enough for trees.