Basement
Fix solar panels to a south-facing sloped roof If you have a sloping roof on your property, chances are you can fit solar panels to it – the more south-facing the better. On flat roofs, the panels need to be placed on manufacturer-specific stands at an optimum angle and direction. If you are in a conservation area, there are specially made ‘roof tile solar panels’, which, as the name suggests, resemble more traditional roof tiles.
Colour scheme and garden The lower-ground floor ceiling is unusually high – 2.8m – so the kitchen wall units have extra height to keep them proportional to the wall. “The cabinet colour came from the glass of the staircase balustrade, which has a green tint.We reflected that in the colour of the kitchen.”
Borrow a kitchen closet As most kitchen cabinets measure 60cm deep, they’ll easily fit a standard hanger. If you have a tall kitchen unit that you can spare, use it to smuggle in extra coat storage. For better access to the cupboard, replace a single door with double ones that will open out on both sides.
…or treat your glass externally Ruth also suggests a similar idea that uses different technology and can potentially be used retrospectively, making it a far more viable option if you’ve inherited a hot, glass-heavy extension. “I went to see Space Group Architects’ Binary House [pictured] over Open House London weekend,” Ruth says, “and the back of the house had glass with these slim metal blades on the exterior, which significantly cut down the amount of sun coming in.” The product Ruth saw, seen here in a brass finish, is called MicroLouvre and it comes in sheets that can be fixed onto existing glass.
Consider a clerestory window, ie a slim window positioned high up, like the one pictured here. It’s vertical rather than horizontal glass, so you get much less heat gain [than with roof lanterns], which is more comfortable. You do still get the light, though – it’ll just be a more diffuse light which is much softer and more relaxing
Work out your windows Glazing is another area where you can compromise. “This can be an expensive aspect of the build, so use a mixture of aluminium and uPVC cleverly,. Bifold doors over a certain size should be aluminium, but windows can be uPVC to keep costs in hand. It’s key to be realistic with your budget, as glass is more expensive than traditional materials, such as bricks and blockwork, especially when working with large, bespoke sizes. If you’re trying to maximise the amount of glazing while keeping the costs down,” she adds, “look into openings and skylights that come in standard sizes. You’d be surprised at the effect a large roof window can have on your room, and, if finished well, it certainly doesn’t have to look like the budget option.
The huge patio doors contain hidden technology that allows them to be used for heating the room. Electricity passes through a transparent metal oxide coating via buzz bars at the top and bottom. With this addition and the underfloor heating, there was no need for radiators in the property. Patio doors, IQ Glass.
Make the most of top light Top light is tons brighter than daylight from conventional windows, so if there’s an opportunity to install a roof light or sun tunnel in a room, don’t hesitate. That done, maximise it with surfaces – such as kitchen cabinet doors or worktops – in pale colours and with a light-reflecting mid-sheen. High-gloss finishes? Swerve them in a top-lit room, as every smudge and fingerprint will show up.
Double patio doors offer clear views of and direct access to the garden, with natural daylight pouring in through the large flat and pitched roof lights. “The roof lights were a standard, off-the-shelf product,” says Skinner. “We chose them as the builders’ work to install these is very straightforward and there’s no lead time or complications with ordering. They’re also very cost-effective for the amount of glazing you get.” The natural oiled oak floorboards create a weathered, silvery base and chime with the kitchen units. Portland Pearl Oak Natural Oiled floorboards, Trunk.
Connection and separation. When the pocket door is pulled back, there’s a clear, uninterrupted view from the new side extension through the office to the living room at the front of the house. Good transition between the existing rooms and the new extension - they link together really well, but there’s a clear threshold between old and new, too. The drop down to the lower level is intrinsic to the connection and separation.
Pocket door A view from the newly formed office space – originally a rather redundant dining room in the middle of the house – linking the front living area with the new side extension. A sliding pocket door system allows the door to completely slide away; it’s fully concealed and the space feels open. or it can be closed to stop smells, or to minimise noise between the office or living room and the main kitchen hub at the back.
Insulate everything This ivy-clad outhouse looks beautiful, but it also has well designed insulation, as there are no gaps through which you would lose heat. (It’s also a lot better looking than a photograph of foam insulation boards…) Building regulations set out minimum thicknesses for thermal insulation, which your architect can advise you on. To improve this insulation and lose less heat through the walls, you can always add insulation to the interior side of all external walls with either insulated plasterboard or insulation boards with plasterboard on top. Note, though, that this will reduce your internal footprint, so this solution is not for everyone. You can get very thin sheets or rolls of ultra-dense insulation for particular historic interiors, which are only 1-2cm thick yet still greatly reduce heat loss. The thinner the insulation you add from the inside, the less deep, for example, new window reveals will be – and you won’t lose any historical features.
Upgrade your heating and ventilation Underfloor heating tends to be very effective, as it heats up a room thoroughly (hot air rises) and uses relatively little energy compared to radiators. Water-based underfloor heating is most efficient in this case. It’s easy to forget about heat loss through ventilation – air bricks and trickle vents are effectively crude holes in your outside walls. Your stale air is removed, but you also lose heat, which you have paid to generate in the first place. A much more efficient way is to use heat recovery systems, whereby the incoming cold, fresh air is heated by the stale air, so it enters your rooms warmed up. This system only works if you do it for the whole house, so it’s aptly referred to as a whole-house ventilation system (for more on this, see ‘Consider a Passivhaus’, below). You can install it if you have a loft space, as the equipment needed takes up a bit of room. The extractor fan in this kitchen – housed inside a sustainable Douglas fir box – sucks air upwards and into a heat exchanger above the ceiling, which recycles the warm air and expels the cold.
This view, from inside the first floor of the extension, shows the newly created dining spot with its lovely garden vista. The double doors open to a glass Juliet balcony which, in the summer, provides even more of a connection to the outside.
IStagger your floors Rather than being sloped, as just seen, or flush, as in the first project, this two-storey rear extension, on a Grade II-listed property, is stepped, so the top part overlooks the (triple) glazed ceiling of the new room below.
HollandGreen Architecture & Interiors This is the ground-floor kitchen, looking towards the garden. The bookcase that connects the floors can be seen beyond the units. The designers had a smart approach when it came to securing Planning Permission. Where neighbouring houses don’t feature double-height extensions, permission can, they say, be “rarely achievable. But we used 3D modelling to prove the project wouldn’t impact on the neighbours, and this helped us to achieve it.”
HollandGreen Architecture & Interiors Here, you can see the lower-ground floor of this interesting, newly created space, where an open-tread staircase with a glass balustrade adds a light touch to the open-plan living room. Two sets of French windows within the glazing – one on either side of the brick column – open to the garden. This part of the house is, in fact, the basement of this terraced property. Above it is the kitchen, on the ground floor (see next photo). There was already a dark, single-storey space at the rear of the building. “We needed to find a way to effectively connect the floors into a single, useable space that felt like one room, and create a superb live-work area, not just a ‘bolt-on addition’,” explain the architects at Holland Green. The result floods the house with light, has a feature bookcase that helps to connect the two floors visually, and gives both new spaces a strong connection to the garden.
Choose interesting glass Opting for factory-style glazing at the back of this house gives it a characterful look from the outside. Inside, meanwhile…
Alexeeva also positioned a tall plant between the mirrored wall and the dining space, to shield diners from a view of themselves eating! Houseplants feature throughout the apartment. “I like to use plants to make a space feel cosy,” she says. “They add movement, organic shape and colour to a home and really improve its feel. They don’t cost a great deal, either.”
Pull (down) an all-nighter Got some unexpected guests who need to stay the night? Ta-dah! This fold-down bed can be pushed up into the alcove and hidden away behind the large door. Of course, if you’re not in the mood for offering hospitality, there’s no need to open the door and reveal what’s behind it, is there?
Sort and store The doors are an integral part of the design of this neat under-stairs storage, as they form the wall in the now-clutter-free hallway. There are lots of specialist companies that offer under-stair solutions to (hopefully) make haphazardly stacked cupboards, where you slam the door shut and hope for the best, a thing of the past…
Conceal and reveal This is the modern equivalent of a Scooby-Doo-style trick bookcase: a restful bedroom is concealed behind a wall of books, with a hinged section opening up to reveal what’s behind. A design like this provides valuable extra shelf space that would otherwise be lost to a door, and would also work well as a way of creating separate zones in a broken-plan space.
This patio is completely open with no floating beams. Designed as an additional room, it serves as the central living area in the warmer months.
The blending of inside and out is accomplished through large vertical openings that make you feel as if you’re in the trees outside. The windows overlook historic Nîmes – the house faces the Carré d’Art multimedia library and museum of contemporary art, designed by Norman Foster.
Seen from the inside, however, the extension feels positively futuristic and minimal – giving the owners the best of both worlds. Huge expanses of glass forming much of the ceiling area, as well as an almost seamlessly connected window at the end of the shorter part of the extension, seen here, give the space a lovely link to the garden – making that the feature, rather than the inspired yet non-visually intrusive architecture.
Contemporary Exterior by FC Architects FC Architects Email Save A dazzlingly contemporary extension wrapped in a traditional exterior Choosing brickwork that matches the original so closely makes this extension, designed by FC Architects, almost invisible from the outside. The pitched roof and choice not to extend the full side return also nod to the earlier life of the building. It all makes the large, light-loving patio doors less of a feature in their own right as they, too, blend in more easily with such a backdrop.
They also planted the double-canted roof with wildflowers, which creates a wonderfully pastoral view out of the home’s original first floor window, seen here. Inside the new ground-floor space, the owners have created a dining area and a peaceful study overlooking the garden.
Nature softens the exterior of this conservation area home Although this is a defiantly contemporary add-on to a Grade II listed house (in a conservation area made up of late Georgian and early Victorian terraces), it’s a soft and sensitive one. The designers, Fraher Architects, chose sustainable larch wood planks to clad the exterior, which tie in with the colours in the original brickwork.
…look at how cleverly the new part of the house respects the original building. In a conservatory-like approach, the original back wall has become a feature. Don’t you just love the Juliet balconies that connect the space to the room behind and let the light flood through?
Bespoke joinery under the stairs allows a bench to be pulled out of the storage wall, and pushed back when it’s not needed.
Scenario Architecture The space under the stairs has been cleverly designed to store the children’s toys and craft supplies. Each section is either a drawer or a cupboard, and some of them slide open, while others lift up.
Beneath the window seat is a handy storage area for DIY equipment.
Beneath the window seat is a handy storage area for DIY equipment.
An exposed brick wall adds character to the kitchen area, while the glazed back wall is broken up with a window seat.
A glass balustrade lines the eight steps that lead to the kitchen level. A tilted skylight above draws the eye out towards the garden.
Think outside the norm Architects Maya Carni and Ran Ankory have opened up and lowered rooms in their cool London home to create a multi-level space that’s as interesting to look at as it is practical to live in. The library area above is where the cloakroom used to be. “It felt heavy with the wall there,” says Carni. “So we got rid of the wall, which created a nook where we sited the library. It now feels lighter, as if it’s floating.”
The pared-back interior, with its prominent natural wood tones, ties in perfectly with the outside setting.
Dominic McKenzie Architects Look in the mirror This house would make an impact every time you came home. It’s a renovation clad in mirror-polished stainless steel that reflects the trees opposite. It may be located in London, but you wouldn’t feel far from nature living here.
Live in a glass house This is the perfect property for those who want to be right in the garden when they’re inside. It’s a contemporary take on a conservatory and replaced an outdated version previously attached to this Cornish manor house. The glass is structural – it doesn’t rely on a frame to support it – which allows architects to create dramatic designs like this.
Both this room and the formal living space feature engineered wood flooring. Underfloor heating means furniture can be positioned against the walls.
The entrance to the house is on the ground floor, with a spectacular view from the hallway to the lower-ground level. Pattern and colour enliven the space. “The floor tiles aren’t original,” says Taylor, “but we wanted something with heritage because it’s a Victorian house. You enter through the large door and cross the Victorian-style tiled floor, but it’s quite crisp and modern in terms of appearance.”
Kitchen cabinetry attractive to look at, as it’s part of an open living space. An island & simple lines and the avoidance of any fussy detail were also essential for the scheme.
A bespoke staircase was chosen to link the new floor of the house with the ground floor. “It’s called a dragon’s back because from the side the profile looks like one,” says Taylor. “The idea was to put something beautiful there, and make a feature of it.” The gaps between the risers allow light through the room, while the clear glass balustrades let the staircase’s shape stand out to add a sense of air and space, The staircase is oak-clad to introduce a warm, natural material into the scheme.
Go up and around Make use of vertical space by building up and around a long bench to use potentially dead space up high and down the sides of the walls. In general, tucking shelves just below the ceiling can be a clever way to fit in more storage.
Go for gas Gas fires are easy to use, as you can turn the flames on and off quickly and efficiently whenever you like. You also won’t have soot and smoke particles travelling up your chimney, and won’t have to clean ash out of the bottom on a regular basis.
Studio design
Boxy glazed bay window Glazed door with smaller window and cat flap!
Warm both sides The divider is vertical rather than horizontal in this home. Again, it creates more intimate areas within an open layout. The bonus here is the inset fireplace, which is double-sided and a cosy focal point for this seating area and the other one beyond. The log store alongside is a winner, too. It’s functional, of course, but it also allows glimpses from one space to the other, maintaining the open feel.
Chequerboard tiles
Decor Black and white seem an obvious choice and are, of course, a classic Victorian combination, especially in a chequerboard pattern like the one in this hallway,
Cochrane Design SaveEmail Panelling is a very tempting addition, too; our house has modest coving and not particularly high ceilings for a Victorian home, so there’s little to draw the eye up – adding panelling and a patterned tiled floor seems like a great way to add interest to the lower areas and create impact. This staircase looks great with the different tones of grey between the panelling, spindles and stair runner – a really lovely and subtle way of adding interest with one colour.
The pool is heated with an air source heat pump, while another air source system provides warmth for the house. “We replaced the oil tank with the air source heat pump. It works well in this part of the country, with its fairly stable temperatures,” Ian says. The ICF construction is also well insulated, so minimal energy would be needed to keep the owners warm inside their home.
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