Unagru Architecture Urbanism

House for a family of sailors. The brief: an enclosed kitchen, more storage and service area at ground floor, a more direct relationship with the garden. Our proposal reflects the clients needs and focuses on compression and expansion of space.

The original rear ground floor of this large semi-detached Edwardian house in Bromley was extremely fragmented, resulting in small, dark spaces and little flexibility. Our proposal was to unite the three-and-a-half rooms forming the rear ground floor into one large space. Rather than simply knocking down walls and creating a single space, we have worked with clients on selecting the features worth preserving, with the aim of increasing rather than reducing the richness of the resulting space.

This project is an experiment on a shift of scale: from a house composed of floors to a narrative whole. Rather than stacking uses on separate levels, we have imagined a continuous flow throughout the house. The circulation areas merge into one another and the living spaces through small double-height spaces.

The side extension is designed as very light glass planes which respect the ceiling’s continuity and bring light inside the previously very dark space. The rear extension is designed as a frameless glass box, to achieve maximum brightness, underline the ceiling line, and incorporate the rear courtyard. The latter, also framed by the ceiling line, becomes part of the ground floor layout.
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The threshold between the rear sitting room and the extension is treated as yet another, metaphorical small

The Colander was a traditional Victorian terraced house, with a very long and dark entrance hall, very dark kitchen and dining rooms with hardly any direct light. The brief from our client was to extend and brighten their kitchen, which was confined behind a semi-transparent lean-to, and to make sense of the disconnected interior and create a bright contemporary kitchen and dining space.

Peckham Courtyard is a refurbishment and extension of a Victorian, end of terrace house in Peckham, London.
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The clients wanted to create a better connection to the sky and garden. Our design brings a new relationship to the internal space, linking the front and rear of the home and connecting the interior space with the garden. The project is another step in our research on space continuity, compression and expansion.

By adding a small ground floor rear extension to the traditional Victorian ground floor flat, we were able to deliver the changes the client needed to meet the necessities of a growing family airy and creating a bright sequence of spaces, carefully designed to meet the exact needs of the inhabitants. On any bright day, the layout expands to incorporate the patio and therefore becomes a circular sequence of interconnected rooms.

The ground floor was made more fluid, complex and bright through the introduction of two steps between the front and rear areas, and the opening of a small courtyard to light the spine wall area.

The side return extension area was treated as a much more contemporary part of the composition, with flush edges and stone finishes. The basement, with a guest bedroom, utility and storage facilities as well as media and playroom, was detailed a non-compromising contemporary space.