The Boat & Pavilion
Teddington, London
The clients, a family of four (plus one cat), approached us to design the extension of their ground floor and improve the relationship from the house to the garden. The client wanted to create an overall feeling of light and freedom in their home, that open plan spaces afford, particularly when the design is enriched with a feeling of movement and several points of interest throughout the dwelling.
Since completion of the project, the family now enjoys spending long weekends together at home with the sliding doors open to the private garden, allowing the breeze to flow in. Natural light filters in through the roof-light, reflecting every season and enhancing the atmosphere inside. The feeling is one of brightness and happiness, especially when paired with excellent food and wine (which we can testify to!).
The house had been tastefully refurbished about fifteen years ago, and the clients wanted to retain part of its features whilst incorporating their love for the sea, sailing, and light. However the spaces felt constrained and fragmented, with a very narrow kitchen tucked behind the stair, an extremely tight entrance and no place to leave coats and shoes — a very unpractical condition for a family with two teenage children who love the outdoors! From the outset, we decided that the extension was the perfect opportunity to incorporate all the service areas that the family needed, allowing these to be centrally hidden, offering the opportunity to open up the rest of the house.
The second move was to make a minor change to the roof design, to slightly reduce its volume and cost. We had to submit a planning amendment and get it approved in record time to avoid delaying the works and adding to the clients' renting expenses. The clients' strategy worked: after reducing the costs significantly, they decided to increase the budget to cover the remaining difference and appoint the builder they felt most comfortable with.
The main entrance and the kitchen were two crucial areas to the design. The entrance, as the initial introduction to the home, needed to be a welcoming space, with room to greet people into the home and with additional space to get rid of everyday items such as coats and shoes. The first design move has been widening the entrance hall, including access to service WC and wardrobe; daylight cascades in from above and reflects on a warm, welcoming yellow wall and ceiling. The view to the rest of the ground floor is partially blocked by an expectedly curved wall (a boat?) and a freestanding element.
As you advance into the home, the curved wall pushes us towards the centre of the house. From here, both the ceiling height and the brightness drive us towards the garden on one side and the snug room on the other side. The curve wall hides the kitchen, now placed at the centre of the layout.
The curve softens the effect on the ground floor, actually enhancing the sense of flow. Adding two doors (the one inside the curved wall was quite a challenge!) enables one to walk through the room, making it utterly integral to the rest of the ground floor; finally, the translucent sliding door facing the garden allows light in at all times. The kitchen can also be closed entirely if needed, to contain smells or hide clutter, much to the clients' great satisfaction. As we advance further into the house, the curved wall pushes us towards the centre of the home. From here, both the ceiling height and brightness, drive us towards the garden on one side and the snug room on the other side.
For the kitchen layout the clients preferred an enclosed kitchen, or one that could be closed off when it was practical or they were receiving guests. The resolution of the kitchen was probably the most complex design challenge of the project: how do we design a large enough kitchen to feel welcoming and practical without boxing off the ground floor layout? How do we create a closed kitchen, set away from all windows, but still bright and connected to the rest of the house? The solution was a hybrid kitchen behind a curved wall
The hard work was well worth it. The extension room (The Pavilion), shaped as a reversed boat hull, is the new main dining and sitting space, directly overlooking the garden. The kitchen is a welcoming space, with everything in its place and with the light flowing in from the garden. The roof pitched on all four sides is cut at the top to let light filter in from above, brightening the entrance and enhancing the room's height, with endless light streaming in. The glazed doors incorporated a cat flap in the largest glass pane, for Goggy the cat to enter and exit freely. Splashes of bright yellow colour make for a happy beginning of the day and return home.
Architect
Unagru Architecture Urbanism
Structural Engineer
Structures Made Easy
Contractor
Gavazzan Building Ltd
Photographer
Stale Eriksen
Completion year
2016
Area
180 sqm
Project budget
< £200,000
Open House Festival 2017
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