The Brick House project involved the lower ground and upper ground floor refurbishment and rear extension to a flat in North West London. The building sits within a prominent Conservation Area. The client wanted to open up the dark cellular lower ground floor spaces towards the garden. Maximizing natural lighting at lower level was of key importance in the design proposals, whilst sinking the tv snug into the darker spaces within the plan.

The extension benefits from a wildflower roof, high levels of insulation and south facing glazing in order to aid solar gain and minimise heating and light requirements. The brick cladding is a sensitive gesture towards the existing London Stock Brick clad house, with the colour and pattern speaking setting it apart from the existing house. The angled brickwork creates every changing patterns of sunlight that fall upon the outside of the building.

The faceted brickwork flows across the new extension, over-sailing a hidden window to the first floor bathroom. At night, the light from this room seeps through the brickwork, hinting at activity within the brick box. The internal finishes to the spaces are muted and serve to create a backdrop to the large rooflights dipping natural light deep into the plan of the building.

Full height bi-folding doors with recessed finger pulls, enable the living space to be screened off from the kitchen, creating a flexible set of living spaces. The new bathroom at the upper ground floor level sits discreetly at the top of the brick box, enjoying high levels of daylighting from a wrap around window over looking the garden.

A green roof to the brick box provides the extension with a soft top, providing a bio-diverse habitat for birds and bees. Fraher Architects Ltd provided a full RIBA service. Fraher and Co Ltd designed and fabricated the bi- folding internal doors for this project.

Material Used :
1. Lighting: BrinkLIcht
2. Glass: DN Construction
3. Ibstock: Slate Blue Smooth 2232