IBLA were asked to remodel and extend the top floor of a Victorian semi-detached house in west London to create a children’s playroom, studio space, bedroom and bathroom to meet the needs of a growing family. Key elements of the brief were to make an unusual space, and to make the house more sustainable.
Traditional roof extension solutions were quickly rejected on the grounds that they would unbalance the roofscape over the pair of houses. Instead, a design was developed that constrained the new extension to a single room - a new kid's bedroom - over the rear outrigger. Built under permitted development, and located directly over the existing kid's bedroom on the half level below, this stacking allowed the whole of the second floor of the house to be opened up to the underside of the roof, creating an interconnected children’s ‘floor’ with a double height play space at its core, while maintaining the existing roof profile fronting the street.
This double-height playspace has a central tower, which houses a bathroom and ‘secret’ snug above it, accessed off the playroom. Conceived of as a ‘crow’s nest’, port-hole windows give the snug views over the play room below and out through high level windows to the city beyond. The exposed roof joists evoke tree branches and the rigging of sailing ships, while numerous roof windows flood the spaces below with light.
The refurbishment allowed the whole of the top of the house to be highly insulated, with a new insulated roof, double glazed windows and internal insulation to the original walls of the house, which significantly reduced the CO2 emissions of the whole house. Heating to the new spaces is provided by an air source heat pump, which further increases the sustainability of the house and future proofs it.
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