Slant architects were approached to reconfigure a client’s semi-detached Edwardian home, we needed to bring the period property in line with the lifestyle of their growing family. Located in the Christchurch Conservation Area,  the house had generous floor to ceiling heights and ample natural light but had suffered from a segregated ground floor layout ill-suited to modern life, and an unsympathetic 1970s extension which the client wished to harmonise into the revised layout.

To better understand their needs, we developed a series of design workshops and feasibility options to enable discussion on how family functions could be distributed better throughout the plan. Through collaboration with the client, we settled on a generous galley kitchen, at the heart of the ground floor, which led into a new extension which housed the utility space and shower room.  A feature oak framed glazed corner wraps around the entrance space allowing natural light to pour into the ground floor.

We worked with the client to introduce Art and Crafts style character and historic proportions which matched the existing house, and we sourced a brick that matched the existing 1910 property whilst also connecting it to the 1970 brick, they are united through careful detailing with reused bricks – specifically sourced and colour matched – to sit in harmony with the adapted side and rear façade. The new layout provides a series of enjoyable and flexible spaces for the family to adapt and grow together over future decades.