Belfast House Extension
'We embarked on the commission of improving this home in 2007. During the years we re-visited the project a few times continually being perplexed by the big jump it would require to break the 'too thin' plan into something the family could breathe in and enjoy for years to come.
'With young children at varying school ages the combination of storage, toys, sports gear, bikes et al must be catered for in a balance with the rest of a family home. Living, dining, entertaining, shopping, sleeping, cooking have been juggled in the design process to arrive here.
'In summary, the big moves are to fatten the bulk of the ground floor to enjoy the light in garden and simultaneously expand the kitchen and dining in the relieved space of the existing footprint; rebuild and extend the garage to take care of all the bulky dirty outdoor stuff allowing a kind of service access to the kitchen and utility rooms; and to make a whole new floor for the parent's room in a converted attic at second floor. This gives the growing in height family more space to make noise at the first floor.
'Our approach is to work with the invited palate of brick which will show inside as well as out. We will use native Oak for parts of the interior and where there are thin elements of the building like parapets or cantilevered roofs, these will be in mirror polished stainless steel.'
