Space is at a premium in the centre of Winchester that is why the clients at
Austen House approached Adam Knibb Architects to come up with a cleaver
and creative increase of space to their house.

Austen House was a recently converted dwelling situated on the site of the
Old St. Swithun’s school located along North Walls in Winchester. Vacated in
1929 the School had out grown the city centre location allowing the premises
to be taken over by the library and then further development into residential
dwellings. Austen House forms part of this old development, which
originated as the toilet block!

The clients love the location but desperately wanted more natural light, a
south facing aspect and more space. It was conceived that with an access
way beside the property which only had to provide a right of passage for cars
very occasionally, it was possible to build out and create a new room over
the top of this space. The client undertook all the necessary legal
proceedings for permission of a flying freehold, whilst Adam Knibb Architects
created a very contemporary solution.

Being within the town centre conservation area the addition to the house had
to stand out from the main building with materiality as well as design. The
floating timber box which touches the building lightly (via glass slot windows)
cantilevers out over the access way to give both a dramatic internal space
but also a prominent feature down North Walls road.

Vertical timber cladding and large sections of glass have been designed in to
give a greater feeling of verticality and sense of place. With the tight nature of
the site, principles of construction had to also be considered. The project
was partially completed off-site to ensure minimal disruption on site.

A sky lantern provides additional aspects to the sky linked with actuatorcontrolled
ventilation. The pod itself stands delicately on two galvanized steel
columns at the extent of the boundary.