51% Studios

摘要

The steel, stiletto-shaped extension to the back of a Georgian house in London is clad in heat-treated larch, which is guaranteed to last for 30 years without further treatment. The use of timber and the sympathetic pitch of the glazed roof helped to ease the concerns of building a contemporary extension within a conservation area, while also creating a union between the original building and the garden. Thomas says: 'We used an architectural lens to frame the relationship of the site to nature, to the perpendicular of the tree.' The extension projects slightly from the side of the house so that it 'looks around the corner', offering viewers from the road an inviting perpendicular strip of glazing and slice of larch. Within, the designers recycled floorboards from the original building, kept the old sink and used plywood wall-covering to continue the theme of a graceful union between the existing building, the extension and the garden. The design won a RIBA Regional Award in 2008.