The original house on this site was built in the 1930s, and is a detached house, surrounded by private gardens enjoying a high degree of seclusion and privacy, with views to the south over open countryside. The clients purchased the house for the enjoyment of the setting, however despite being a generous size the internal rooms were poorly planned, particularly in terms of the relationship of the small, cramped kitchen to the dining room, which were separated by a dark corridor from each other, complicating the flow of space, and cutting the kitchen off from the garden and the rest of the house for entertaining purposes.
A plan of works was developed with the clients which can be tackled in stages over time, but with planning permission sought and given for the full works so as to allow flexible funding for the various phases.
This included for a conversion of the existing garage to create additional accommodation within the house giving semi-autonomous space for adult children of the family to use when staying, and designed with a view to accommodation a live-in housekeeper in the future. This also addressed the aesthetic of the gable end of the house, one of the more visible elevations when approaching from the road, which was entirely taken up previously with an oversized garage door.
At ground floor the kitchen - including Aga - was relocated entirely and several walls between the old kitchen, corridor, dining and conservatory were removed to exploit the potential for views and daylight, and link the newly created entertaining and living spaces to the part of the garden facing the swimming pool. An original built-in glazed dresser deemed too good to lose was protected during the works and designed into the new dining space. Given the wholesale nature of these removals and the amount of existing glazing in what was to become an open-plan space, energy calculations were run to prove the thermal performance of these proposals so as to maintain use of existing building fabric where possible and minimise demolition.
SS4 Architects worked with a specialist joiner, Hugo Lamdin Furniture, on the bespoke fully-glazed doors to link the corridors at both ground and first floor, incorporating an arched design complementing the original house, and apparent in other parts of the building and site, and not least a folly wall as you enter the garden.
At first floor the masterplan includes for re-planning bedrooms to as to create a master suite with access to the roof of the loggia facing the garden, giving this room a sunny balcony to maximise the benefit of the view, the setting and orientation of this part of the house. Other guest rooms and bathrooms are to be refurnished as part of this second stage, and photos will be updated we hope in 2024.
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