Ogee House

Externally, a restrained palette of recycled bricks are playfully arranged while extensive natural oak joinery, battening and flooring create a simple and rich internal palette.

Questions and Answers

How is the project unique?
The curved ceiling along the side of the existing ceiling and up to the new glass roof. We had not seen any other designs like it when we proposed it, we are seeing a few imitations now!

What were the key challenges?
To make the new space feel as spacious as possible without eating up too much of the valuable garden space.

What was the brief?
To create a new open plan kitchen and dining space for the family, with an open connection to the garden.

What were the solutions?
As the side extension area is north facing it provided an opportunity to use a lot of glass without risking overheating. We couldnt increase the height of the existing kitchen ceiling but we curved the edge of it up to the new glass roof window to bring more light in and make the area feel more spacious.
To connect the garden we created a seamless physical connection from inside to outside by extending the kitchen to create a timber clad garden storage area.

Key products used:
Worktop – Silestone composite granite kitchen worktop.
Glazing – Maxlight pivot door, glazing and roof window.
Kitchen – Howdens kitchen carcasses.
Wood flooring – Wood and Beyond.
General spotlights – Astro Trimless Spotlights.
Pendants – Material Pendant Light.
Wall lights – Astro Eclipse
Wall lights – Boom Wall Light by Tom Dixon.
External Lighting – Astro Terra Round
Sockets + switches – Schneider

Who are the clients and what’s interesting about them?
A family with two young boys. The clients were very keen on having a timeless space and not over complicating it with materials. That is why we focused on natural light and a simple material palette

What building methods were used?
In order to achieve the intricate patterned brickwork on the garden facing elevation we asked the builders to cut the face off the existing London stock bricks to create brick ’tiles’ (brick slips) to bond to a blockwork wall behind. This freed us from the supporting structural requirements of the bricks and allowed us to use the pattern. A very simple but effective trick.

How did the project address the challenge of ensuring existing areas of the property were also improved?
A big challenge with rear extensions on houses is to make sure that by improving light and space in one area you are not taking it away from another. On this project we brought the new glass roof right up to where the old window onto the middle lounge used to be. As light is now reflecting off white plasterboard surfaces, more reflected light comes into the space than before.
The timber wall panelling that we wrapped around the downstairs toilet also extends into the existing lounge, which creates a physical and visual link between the old and new spaces.

What design features made the kitchen affordable?
To create a totally bespoke fitted kitchen but without breaking the budget we used standard off the shelf kitchen carcasse units for the whole kitchen but had bespoke cupboard fronts and facing dividers made by a carpenter in natural oak. The oak matched the wall panelling and dining bench, also made by the carpenter.

What do the architects say?
‘the biggest success of this project is the quality of natural light in the space, which creates a well lit and serene atmosphere’ George Bradley
‘This was one of those dream projects, completed within budget, finished on time and happy clients, it couldn’t have gone more smoothly’ Ewald Van Der Straeten ‘the key to this project was the curve in the ceiling, an idea that is so good and yet so simple, we can’t believe we didn’t think of it before!’ Jessica Williamson