| RADICAL TRANSFORMATION + EXTENSION + 3D MODELLING |
This detached relatively modern 3 bedroom home has a ground floor footprint of only 72 SQM supporting a good sized Southerly facing sitting room, a small North facing dining kitchen, a small shower room and front entrance to the East side of the home. The first floor accommodates a double bedroom and two single bedrooms with a shared bathroom.
The design challenge was to reorganise the ground floor rooms to create a new larger lighter kitchen with island and dining for 6-8, with direct connection to the south facing sitting room and gardens. The front entrance was to be reoriented to the front of the house (rather than the side) and an extension to accommodate additional sleeping and working space was requested.
The early design investigations highlighted the potential to relocate the existing stair + shower room to the extension. This removed the small rooms and narrow hallways from the ground floor plan, and this valuable (free) SQM is repurposed as the kitchen / dining room with connection directly to the sitting room, providing the flexibility of open plan or semi-open plan living.
The shape of the kitchen was redesigned to make better use of space and create a bonus pantry and good sized utility. Natural daylight was enhanced by replacing the existing front door with a fully glazed window and extending the original bathroom window to ground level to match.
The re-imagined Kitchen has daylight and views on a triple aspect (South, East and North) and access from the front hall, the rear garden via the utility and the sitting room, helping to set the kitchen firmly as the centre of the home.
The new side extension supports a multi functional room to the front, a shower room with large walk-in shower, a rear double bedroom with access to the garden and fitted storage. A new front entrance with front porch has been created by using some of the large existing sitting room, with the main entrance now integrated seamlessly into the floorplan.
You can see from the ground floor proposed plan below, that no area of the existing home remained untouched.
With the entrance hall now leading to all rooms, the flow and feeling of space within the home is improved immeasurably. The new extension works hard, at only 32 SQM, while supporting many new functions.
This project is a strong example of how an extension not only provides additional SQM for new and/or improved function, done with care and consideration, the extension will also free space in the existing floorplan, creating a powerful potential for real home transformation.