Extension with wrap around glazing and feature stove

This is a project that fully embraces the beauty of open spaces with warm tones and a gentle touch. Allowing a great deal of light in and giving a quality of scandinavian cool. The brief was to design a substantial ground floor extension that would work in both contrast and harmony with a traditional North Oxford house.

The development of this design was carried out over a long period of consultation with the clients, to get the maximum quality to the space whilst working within a specific budget. Architecture was devised working with Ifor Rhys, and the contract completed to a great standard by Stuart Barr Ltd.

Its a picture of restraint, and with the settling of this project late in the year it will be very exciting to see the garden and extension in full bloom giving the full picture to the original concept of outdoor / indoor extension.

The kitchen, hand made by Barr Kitchens links the Victorian house and its contemporary extension, view more kitchen details here

The illustration below shows our early vision for the project. We will be posting a vimeo video of the sketch up model shortly. In brief, a small existing extension was removed, and the back of the house opened up to create a through kitchen an huge space for indoor/ outdoor dining and entertaining, linked externally by level threshold paving externally.

Wrap around sliding doors on the corner take in even the winter sun, and create a real sense of openness. These were commissioned and installed by fineline aluminium architectural glazing who's slimline profiles particularly suited the projects requirements. Detailing the exterior includes

level thresholds seamlessly linking the natural stone inside and out, colour matched guttering and rainwater pipes, and reclaimed bricks and tiles so that the not inconsiderable extension blends with the original house and neighbouring rooflines. 

The external works were designed to take advantage of the scenery. The paved areas at the rear fall to lawn level in large patio steps for outdoor seating. The flooring on the main patio follows through on the same level as the extension with a large format non slip slate. Cut outs in the paving against the garden wall create pockets for planting, mainly herbs but with some herbaceous planting for volume. 

This impressive extension was designed in collaboration with  

Ifor Rhys architect

 which with his clever roofline detail adds vertical church like architecture to the whole shape of the project space. From the kitchen through the top of the window there is also a small view of the canopy of the large Oak at the rear of the garden through the standard patent glazing roof lights. Curved plaster rolls internally soften the whole space, and the light floats rather than creating shadows. 

The roof is very neat and incorporates riverbed shingle with the necessary falls to drainage.

This elegant stove feature was designed with scandinavian ceramic fireplaces in mind. It was put on the angle to allow a view of the fireplace from all over the room and to make it more inclusive and social. The running pattern design of the flooring follows up the chimney breast. The side of the fireplace allowed for a slightly concealed open storage section for wood and stove ephemera, but this is not so evident from the main part of the room.

The architecture works to capture the suns position in that it would throw light around the whole of the space. A long large gallery wall also creates a space for display bringing a museum like quality to the room and lit by Nordlux lighting spots. The TV and sound bar get incorporated into the skin of the building so as not to become too prominent. 

later on we added a rogue-designs extending table made from Ash which you can see detailed

here

.

It sits alongside the industrial vintage 

daybed commission

Bespoke modern shaker kitchen

A bespoke, fully handmade and hand painted kitchen is based on the modern shaker style with shallow simple profiles. It is painted in a warm grey along with the walls to give a sense of enclosure. Overall, the design is understated with its palette of oak, matt honed Carrara marble and dove grey, but charged with warmth.

Simple techniques like replacing some of the door panels with glass to further enhance the light touch' visually allow a transit from one end of the building to the other.

From the kitchen door, a large bank of fully fitted units utilise every inch of space from floor to ceiling, and conceal the underfloor heating elements, integrated fridges, freezers and wine storage, bread drawers and cheese shelf, leaving an ample pantry section.

The solid oak shelving with integrated LED lighting above the sink area is a display space for some of the collected ceramics of the client. The vertical lines of the tongue and groove above the sink address the need to balance and take the visual weight out the the large units to the right.

The flooring is a large format honed Romany Blue limestone from Portugal and laid down in a quilted running length pattern, with various widths to subtly break up the large expanses.

The island unit has a multi top; oak and carrara marble pastry section. The oak leads the eye towards the dining and lounge section of the space whilst the marble is utility. Above, the task lighting is kept clean and simple, with downlighting in a warm light LED.

A view from the sink area shows the island's projection and its position within the kitchen/extension as a whole. The circular light in the dining area is Frisbi by Flos. It's very dramatic and adds another pleasing shape to the room. It hovers above the table and dims to a glowing halo which is extremely appealing in an evening.

Designed by rogue designs and beautifully constructed by Barr Kitchens.  

family bathroom with patterned cement tiles

A really elegant, clean lined family bathroom featuring a large walk in shower space with low profile  tray and an integrated space for washing and drying clothes.

Whilst the main part of the design was kept mainly to white the whole design comes alive with a punchy encaustic tiled floor in a geometric design.

The plans also show the spaces that were created for accommodating the washing machine and dryer to the right of the door. Added storage space was created above the toilet and concealed cistern with Oak faced full height doors.