A small extension for two artists living in Queen’s Park, conceived as a sculptural object to complement the mature garden.

Our artist clients have lived in their immaculate flat in Queens Park for many years and created a beautiful mature garden. However they had always been frustrated by the small size of the master bedroom and a lack of adequate wardrobe space. Their brief was to design (on a very tight budget) a small extension to give them a bigger bedroom and an ensuite bathroom whilst complementing the garden. We all agreed that the extension was an opportunity to create new and improved views into the garden from the flat.

The design developed as an abstract sculptural composition - a simple brick extension houses the bathroom and bedroom and is complemented by a minimally detailed lead clad bay window which hovers about a metre over the ground, set against the brickwork of the main extension and a foil to the planting scheme in the garden. The proportions are carefully judged so that the scale of the bay sits comfortably with the garden and the rest of the house.

Internally the bay creates a sunny space to sit poised above the garden but connected to it. After much debate a direct stair down into the garden from the bedroom was rejected as compromising the visual clarity of the scheme but a full height window to the bathroom can function as a very narrow door if wanted.

All aspects of the interior were discussed and carefully considered to create a cool uncluttered space with a strong material quality and minimal detailing.