Highgate House
A Douglas fir framed and clad garden room.
Set within the Whitehall Conservation Area, the house sits over eight part floors, with fantastic views over London. Each of the principle rooms is set apart by a half landing, meaning the house was large but divided. The main motivation was to reimagine the kitchen and dining area, expanding a little into the garden.
A Douglas fir framed and clad extension was devised to provide additional living space to the rear of the property and to improve the detached relationship of the kitchen and the dining room. The angled small garden room unites and expands the lower ground floor into the garden, releasing a deceptively large sense of space.
The form of the extension was derived from the existing site conditions and split-level configuration of the house which is set over eight part floors. The stepped volume responds to the heights of the adjacent properties and the pre-existing kitchen side extension, while the angled plan aligns with the neighbouring properties and projects into the garden, harnessing a new aspect of long south westerly views into the house.
The extension is formed as an exposed Douglas fir framed construction with timber posts, panelling and timber framed glazed doors. The interior is stained with a white oil bringing a warm and peaceful quality to the space, the exterior is stained in a vibrant blue contrasting with the vivid orange brick. The extension is topped with a sedum green roof.
The kitchen was revamped in situ, with the middle room remodelled to house utility joinery on the central corridor, with an ancillary kitchen pantry behind. The former basement storage now houses a playroom and shower room that can be isolated as guest accommodation, with windows reintroduced to the front lightwells.
A master suite formed on the uppermost floor of the house contains a bedroom, ensuite and dressing room with extraordinary views across London, best enjoyed from the elevated bath-tub.
