Overcast House is a single-storey rear extension to a Victorian house in north London, creating a flexible ground floor space which accommodates working-from-home while reconfiguring the house to make it a home for life.
The project name speaks of a central strategy to bring indirect light into the space and references the ‘shadow catcher’ external skin – pigmented cast concrete blocks that model shadows on the rear façade even in the absence of direct sun.
The houseowners – Keiko Cummings, a Japanese personal colour consultant and graphic designer, and her husband, Alan, an academic – appointed Office S&M to enlarge their ground floor kitchen and make it suitable for use as a consultation space. The client’s passionate interest in colour and light made for a rewarding process of dialogue, experimentation and discovery for architect and client.
The project relocates Keiko’s studio space, which was formerly in the front of the house with a south-facing aspect. Changing sunlight and shadows made it hard to maintain colour consistency when she met her clients.
A primary requirement for the new space was constant, even light – conditions necessary for the owner to undertake colour analysis for her work. The brief for a well-lit space that would be shielded from direct sunlight was an unusual challenge. The narrow house also needed to accommodate a table seating 10 people for consultations and a ground floor shower to futureproof the home.
The architects’ response has been to make use of north light in the new extension. Carefully shaped rooflights shield the windows from direct sun, while a flat rooflight deeper in plan is protected by the existing house.
