Teal Transformation

A green-fingered family of four needed more space to work, live and play, having lived in the property through the first UK lockdown. The family needed to remodel their existing cramped, dark property, to create a sociable and practical set of living spaces with an improved connection with the rear garden.The family wanted a larger, lighter kitchen with lots of storage for household goods, bikes, separate utility space and downstairs WC. The dining and kitchen space also needed to be connected to a new family/ TV room.The clients were committed to quality and keen to use an architect to design their home. The clients hadn't previously visualised their dream home when approaching the Architects, Whittaker Parsons, but they knew their kitchen would be teal. They simply loved the colour teal.

A green-fingered family of four who wanted a better connection with their garden. Typical of a lot of families, both parents were required to work from home during the first UK lockdown in the Coronavirus Pandemic. The children were required to learn from home too. This put extra pressure on the household and shone a light on how the house could better suit their needs. Primarily they needed space that could adopt a series of functions.

The existing property was dark and cramped with a poor connection to the garden accessed through a playroom. The existing kitchen looked on the side alley and was very dark. Whittaker Parsons remodelled spaces - putting the TV room, which required little natural light in the centre of the plan, whilst the kitchen and dining space, looked over the rear garden.Apart from the general arrangement of the spaces, one of the challenges was how to create a minimal and spacious home whilst ensuring the house has enough storage for the family's belongings, including lots of bikes etc. Whittaker Parsons designed an abundance of bespoke joinery solutions and separate utility space, accessible from the side entrance - ideal for receiving deliveries.Whilst the family wanted a sizeable sociable space, they also wanted to isolate areas for privacy. Whittaker Parsons utilised the use of sliding doors to enable the spaces to be partitioned when needed.

The existing property didn't utilise the entire width of its site and had a series of small, narrow rooms. Whittaker Parsons proposed building full width across the area, creating a sizeable wrap-around extension (extending to the rear and the side of the property).The wrap-around extension provided a large kitchen overlooking the garden with large slimline glazed sliding doors leading into the rear garden. The dining space sits below a skylight in the side extension portion of the build and is overlooked by the kitchen. The TV room and new downstairs WC, which required little natural light, was located in the centre of the plan, next to the kitchen. The roof soffit of the new build elements are lined with timber panels and have rebated light fittings, to create a clean, crisp aesthetic.

The side extension also houses a utility room with bespoke built-in storage, not only accessible internally but also accessed from the front garden - somewhere to take off muddy boots after a walk in Richmond Park.The extensions are built using traditional cavity wall construction, with a timber-framed roof and clad in standing seam horizontal cladding. The architects have created a sense of mass and depth by designing thick brick reveals along the rear elevation. The floor was thermally upgraded and new underfloor heating was installed.The aesthetic is intentionally minimal. To balance this, the bespoke kitchen doors were sprayed a vibrant teal colour; this complements the grey granite worktop and stainless steel appliances. In addition, the new sustainably sourced engineered oak floor gives a sense of warmth to the space.