Private House in Epsom, Surrey
A suburban detached House in the County of Surrey is extended and adapted to the needs of a retired couple.
The property, built in the early 1950s, is a detached house on the outskirts of Epsom and the clients, a retired couple, wanted to extend their Kitchen and enlarge a former Conservatory that had been obtained by enclosing a former loggia.
The absence of a clear connection with the lush vegetation of the back garden creates an opportunity to centre the design around the introduction of a new relationship between interior space and exterior landscape. The back extension becomes the architectural buffer between artifice and nature, so that the two can be harmoniously connected.
To avoid an elongated frontage, the differing interior ceiling heights - lower in the Kitchen, higher in the Sun Room - are expressed in the arrangement of the façade to facilitate its modulation. A bas-relief effect is introduced by using windows that are project off the render finish.
The overhanging roof creates shade and extends the building into the landscape. Benches attached to the architecture - that the client, a keen gardener, could colonize with pots and flower arrangements - further enhance this connection.
Glazed double doors are inserted between the formal reception room, at the front of the house, and the enlarged Kitchen, at the back, so that the garden can be appreciated through the large expanse of glass.
