Lauriston Road / Gundry + Ducker

Curated by Martita Vial

Architects: Gundry + Ducker
Area: 100 m²
Year: 2018
Photographs:Andrew Meredith
Manufacturers: Investwood, Fabco, Mandarin Stone, Sutton Timber, Vola
Structural Engineer: Feres

Text description provided by the architects. The project is a two-storey extension to a ground floor and basement maisonette within a Victorian terraced house. Previously ,across the rear of the house , was a collection of ramshackle lean-to structures all sitting a metre below the adjacent garden level. The new extension now contains the main living space plus a studio room upstairs. The extension gives the lower flat its own identity, envisaged as a separate building sitting in front of the original, the rear elevation introduces a formal facade in front of the informal original.

The ground floor spaceserves as a kitchen, dining and sitting area, and although a simple rectangular space the articulation of the wall materials helps define the different areas of the room. The unlit space at the centre of the plan is used as a bathroom and utility room. A bespoke kitchen is partially pushed into a recess at the back of the room.

The kitchen has a concrete worktop and the cupboards are made from black Valchromat a secret door leads to the utility room. A large roof light brings light into the back of the room and sits above the dining table. The room at the upper level is a studio for the client who is a photographer, this has an L shaped corner window giving views across the back gardens. A patio area was excavated to be level with the house with steps leading up to the garden level.