Fir Frame

Concrete, ash and Douglas fir: a rear extension made of three parts, each with one job.

Location: London
Type: Rear and side-return extension

Fir Frame: The fir façade from the garden. Visualisation. — Fig. 01The fir façade from the garden.

The place

A two-storey Victorian terrace in stock brick, with a closet-wing outrigger, a dark side return and a kitchen that had lost touch with the garden.

The brief

One kitchen and family room that opens to the garden, a place for the children to read and play, and materials that age well without paint.

The design

An exposed concrete beam and column mark where the old house ends and the new rooms begin. Along the closet wing an ash-lined wall holds the kitchen and services. The garden façade is Douglas fir in three parts: a picture window deep enough to sit in, a bank of timber shutters for air, and a large pivot door. Fir joists carry the roof; a big opening rooflight lights the old side return; quarry tiles run from the kitchen out to the terrace, where rainwater from the green roof fills a trough.

A window to sit in, shutters for air, a door to walk out of.

Fig. 02Long section through house, kitchen and terrace.

Inside

From the old side return under the rooflight, past the concrete column to the garden.

Under the rooflight, past the concrete column. Visualisation. — Fig. 03Under the rooflight, past the concrete column.

Late sun through the slatted fir screen. Visualisation. — Fig. 04Late sun through the slatted fir screen.

The window seat in the deep fir reveal. Visualisation. — Fig. 05The window seat in the deep fir reveal.

Models

Card massing models: the extension among the closet wings.

Massing model (rendered). Visualisation. — Fig. 06Massing model (rendered).

Model detail: the fir façade (rendered). Visualisation. — Fig. 07Model detail: the fir façade (rendered).

Drawings

Plans, elevations and details

Each plan sits beside a view of the spaces it shows; the drawing set follows, from the exploded axonometric to a 1:20 detail.

Down the covered passage: quarry tiles, the old stock-brick wall and the glazed kitchen, out to the garden. Visualisation. — Fig. 09Down the covered passage: quarry tiles, the old stock-brick wall and the glazed kitchen, out to the garden.

Landscape

The garden, room by room

The quarry-tile floor carries straight out to the terrace; a concrete trough collects rainwater from the green roof for the garden, and the lawn runs on between borders to a multi-stem tree.

01
Terrace
Quarry tiles continuing the kitchen floor.
02
Trough
Rainwater from the roof, for watering.
03
Lawn
Open lawn between borders.
04
Green roof
Sedum over the whole extension.

From the mouth of the covered passage, across the quarry-tile terrace and down the lawn. Visualisation. — Fig. 13Day — From the mouth of the covered passage, across the quarry-tile terrace and down the lawn.

Planting palette

Amelanchier lamarckiiMulti-stem tree at the end of the garden
Buxus sempervirensClipped dome by the door
Hakonechloa macraBorders
Sedum mixGreen roof
Mentha + herbsPots by the trough

Materials

Douglas firGarden façade, shutters, pivot door, joists, ceiling
ConcreteBeam, column, worktop, trough
AshKitchen joinery and wall lining
Quarry tileFloor, inside and out
Lime plasterWalls, unpainted

Project

Project data

Location: London
Type: Rear + side-return extension
Added area: c. 24 m²
Architectural design: Dove + Tse
Landscape: Dove + Tse
Structural engineer: TBC
Party wall surveyor: TBC

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