Timbrian - 4 Bedroom House rebuild - with underground garage

My clients bought the property as an ordinary 1970's 3 bedroom house with attached garage in a good sized plot on a private road surrounded by period properties. The brief was to turn it into a contemporary home with four bedrooms and a double garage. The client had strong stylistic ideas which we explored and exploited where appropriate and beneficial.

We decided to demolish all but two of the external walls and extend across the area of the original garage, however protecting the outward view was an important consideration in addition to where to build the new garage, it's space now to be used for accommodation. We explored various options including a corner of the site and a half submerged garage with entertainment space on its roof terrace but in the end decided on an underground garage with an internal connection to the main staircase. In this way we were able to preserve the purity of the front elevation which was designed with protruding elements, hinting at the sandstone bay windows of the neighbour's houses.

Angled splays were applied to the protrusions in a reversal of the shape of next door's bays while allowing in the maximum possible natural light levels. Where windows aren't full height, they have been made three-quarters height, continuing to maximise light levels, to resist the tendency towards a horizontal proportion and, internally, to provide window seats in the bedrooms. The hipped roof shape suits the proportions of the house and sits harmoniously alongside the roof of the east side neighbour, albeit having a lower ridge height due to planning considerations of maximum development height and massing.