BlackBox is a small first floor rear extension to a mid terrace Victorian era house in Islington. The client, a professional couple, wanted a space that could function both as a home office and occasional guest bedroom with en suite bathroom.
Situated on a dense urban site with neighbouring buildings in close proximity, any proposed extension would be overlooked from multiple sides – a typical London situation. At the same time, driven by a desire to maximize natural daylight provision and celebrate key views across adjacent gardens, MATA Architects wanted the new space to benefit from large windows. They asked: can we introduce large glazing whilst regulating levels of shading, natural daylight,privacy, and security at different times of the day?
The extension is conceived as a ‘reconfigurable box’ in dark stained Siberian Larch. Two bespoke counterbalanced shutters are manually operated internally using winches. These allow for multiple configurations of the ‘box; from fully open with window overhang to counter summer solar gain, to shut tight.
The dynamic nature of the façade encourages the user to interact with the architecture and adapt their environment for comfort.
The drawings show an extension at ground floor that was designed together with ‘black box’ at first floor (and approved under the same planning application). The client chose to phase the implementation of this scheme with the first-floor element being delivered first and the ground floor component to follow at a later date.
About the client:The client, a professional couple; lawyer and management consultant, wanted a place that could double as a home office and as a self-contained guest bedroom with en suite. The challenge, with such a small footprint, was to develop a design that was able to adapt to these two very different requirements.
Dan Marks, director at MATA Architects, said:
“This is a small and seemingly simple first floor extension conceived as a ‘reconfigurable box’ – both internally and externally. The triumph, for us, is that this simplicity succeeds in concealing so much precision engineering that is packed into the box.Thecarefully crafted result is borne out of a close collaboration with our structural engineer and specialist fabricator (based just outside of Edinburgh) where the extension was largely prefabricated and tested in factory conditions before delivery to and installation on site.”
The client said:
“We appointed MATA Architects to design an extension of our ground floor and the replacement of a dilapidated winter garden/ conservatory on the first floor.The aim of the project was to increase our living space on the ground floor and to repurpose an old family bathroom on the first floor in the form of a much-needed home office that could double as a guest bedroom with en suite bathroom.
We loved the idea of the first floor as this dynamic black box that could be reconfigured and were delighted that, following a lengthy and, at times delicate, planning process MATA were able to obtain full consent for the project we set out to achieve. Whilst the consent included the ground floor extension we chose to prioritise and phase the works, beginning with the first floor.
MATA prepared detailed drawings and specifications for tenders which they invited and managed. They negotiated savings with contractors on our behalf and administered the building contract. Whilst the construction phase was bumpy at times, they remained professional throughout and a genuine ally. We now have a beautiful and highly functional, if rather unconventional, first floor extension that provides the home office, en-suite bathroom and much more.”
