Burton Stone Lane
York
2019
An extension and residential adaptation of a Victorian villa in the Clifton Conservation area of York.
Our client and his young family needed a new focal point for their home which linked the house to the garden and gave them a new living, dining and kitchen space. We created a folded and playful design that was cleary contemporary whilst referencing the local context.
The project was featured in Grand Designs magazine.
Natural and soft material palette
The extension includes an oak finished kitchen, hand made by a local carpenter. We used oak veneered plywood, inspired by a mid century aesthetic with a large central island reflecting the shape of the extension. Bricks were also handmade and in a long thin format to help clearly define them as different from the larger original bricks and a roof and window reveals formed in copper, which would gently weather with age.
A contemporary extension taking cues from the local character
Whilst the extension is a clear contemporary addition to the Victorian house, we took our cues in the tones of materials and scale from the original house and nearby building’s character. Soft, warm sand hues of brick, dark slate and leadwork details from the local area where the inspiration for the buff brick, dark grey glazing frames and copper used for the roof and window reveals.
Connecting home to garden and inside to out
A series of designs were explored that reconnected the house to the garden, as previously there was little direct physical or even visual connection.
We decided on an angled extension that ‘turned’ the house to face the garden acting as a mediator between the two. Then, to break down the monotony of a large brick facade we added a ‘fold’ so that the extension faced two ways into the garden.
A variety of playful openings
Adding this were three different types of openings, all doing different jobs. A full height slot window and skylight with a view of the sky and bringing light deep into the plan. A large pop out ‘bay’ acting as a seat and opening fully to the garden, and two large sliding corner glazed doors which allowed the whole extension to feel part of the outside.