Hackney Apartment Extension
A growing family living in a ground floor flat in London Fields needed more room. What was an redundant concreted part of the garden seemed like the ideal spot for a side/back extension. The apartment is arranged across the ground floor of a Victorian building had a corridor running centrally with the rooms either side but with no views out into the garden or bringing sunlight in. Opening up the rear facade out to garden and establishing a view into the garden seemed the obvious approach. The implications of extending out into the garden was loss of light in the centre of the apartment So a single piece 3.3 meter long rooflight was positioned in the flat roof of the extension, separating the old from the new, allowing daylight to filter through to the centre of the building. This combined with a fully glazed rear elevation, it creates a well balanced light level in within the lounge. The kitchen-dining space and lounge form one open-plan space. A pivoting glass door and a sliding pocket door allow for this shared family space to be separated from the 3 bedrooms at the front of the house. A beautiful Japanese Maple tree forms the focal point on the patio. The large single sliding oak door frames this tree from the inside like and art work. By designing the windows and terrace around this focal point, the garden is brought more into focus and the relation between inside and out become re-enforced. The chevron oak parquet flooring is flush with the outside granite plank form paving reducing the transition between inside and out. As part of this refurbishment, all services were updated including underfloor heating, lighting and an integrated home cinema and music system. Despite the 25% increase in floorspace, the new heating system, high spec double glazing and insulation, resulted in a far better energy performance reducing the energy bills.