Dove and Tse

Projects / 09

Zinc Lean-to

A low zinc lean-to at the end of a Victorian terrace house, glazed full width towards the garden.

Location
London
Type
Rear extension
Fig. 01The zinc lean-to from the garden.

The place

A Victorian terrace with a closet wing and a long, north-facing garden overlooked by the backs of the next street.

The brief

A garden room with height and character for cooking and eating, and a dining space at the heart of the house that gets real daylight.

The design

Beyond the closet wing, a single-storey room under one shallow mono-pitch roof of standing-seam zinc. It falls from the house to a low eave at the garden, so the extension sits below the neighbours' windows and behind a simple brick parapet on the party wall. Inside, an oak ceiling follows the slope; the garden end is glazed full width in a slim oak frame. The side return becomes the dining space under a glazed lean-to with oak glazing bars, and a larch deck steps down to the lawn.

One quiet slope of zinc, and the whole garden end in glass.

Fig. 02Long section through house, garden room and garden.

Inside

From the dining space under the glazed lean-to, out through the garden room to the garden.

Fig. 03From the dining space to the garden.

Models

Card massing models: the zinc lean-to among the closet wings.

Fig. 04Massing model (rendered).
Fig. 05Model detail: the zinc slope and glazed end (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.

Fig. 06Ground floor plan (proposed).
Fig. 07The kitchen, looking back to the top-lit side return and the old house.
Fig. 08Axonometric from the garden.
Fig. 09Garden elevation.

Landscape

The garden, room by room

A larch deck steps out level with the floor, then a lawn between deep borders, with a multi-stem tree at the end of the garden.

  1. 01

    Deck

    Larch, level with the floor.

  2. 02

    Lawn

    Open lawn between borders.

  3. 03

    Borders

    Grasses and perennials along the fences.

  4. 04

    Tree

    A multi-stem tree at the end of the garden.

Fig. 10Site and landscape plan.
Fig. 11Day — From the deck, down the lawn between the borders to the multi-stem tree.

Planting palette

  • Betula utilis var. jacquemontiiMulti-stem white birch at the end of the garden
  • Hydrangea paniculataWhite panicles in the borders and by the end fence
  • Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster'Tall, feathery grass along both fences
  • Geum 'Mrs Bradshaw'Red-orange flowers through the grasses
  • Hakonechloa macraLime-gold at the front of the borders, by the deck

Materials

  • Standing-seam zincMono-pitch roof and parapet coping
  • OakGlazing frame, sloping ceiling, floor
  • London stock brickWalls
  • Siberian larchDeck
  • GlassGarden end and side-return lean-to
Fig. 12Material samples.

Project

Project data

Location
London
Type
Rear extension
Added area
c. 32 m²
Architectural design
Dove + Tse
Landscape
Dove + Tse
Structural engineer
TBC
Party wall surveyor
TBC