Thursday 31 January 2008

St Barnabas, Cambridge


St. Barnabas Rd,
Cambridge


St. Barnabas is the second project in a series of architectural commissions offered to Spaced Out by the same family. During the briefing phase it became clear that we were to focus our energy on resolving how the house and garden could be best joined. A key statement made by our client was that the design must cater for 'Visitors of all shapes, sizes, ages and stages of development'. Adding, 'We want to make them feel welcome into a warm, generous, creative space'.

The existing house is an Edwardian semi-detached villa which had an isolated back living room that totally underplayed the potential of its relationship to the long west facing walled garden. Spaced Out reacted to this brief by creating a lightweight garden room, opening up the back of the house. With a relatively small scale extension we fulfilled the idea that we should design a space that is manageable, with everything within easy reach; a space that never feels empty. The design was driven by our desire to extend the property in a sensitive manner with seamless detailing. The result is an object that gently slides in under the building, retaining the upper level part of the original full length bay window.

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