Fielding Road, W4 (2005)
The existing house is on a roughly triangular site to accommodate a c.45 degree angle in the road - giving a wide frontage tapering sharply to the rear. The house is at the end of a terrace and continues the geometry of the terrace. The result is a large rectangular house on a small triangular site.
This created two triangular gardens, one to the side and the other to the rear with a narrow external passage between the two. The front triangle of garden was blindsided by a windowless brick wall facing east, denying any enjoyment of it from the house. There was a garden shed up against the side boundary.
The new design extended the house at ground floor to the side east boundary, turning the least used no-man's land of wasted external space into a hub connecting the new zones of kitchen/diner, utility, playroom, front garden and rear garden.
The overall effect of the structural kitchen alterations is to illuminate a previously dark central area of the house which had been divided into confined corridors with a small kitchen and utility. The refit included glazed doors wherever possible – even what was previously a disused fireplace in the playroom now has french doors within opening directly onto the previously disconnected east flank garden.
The link is transparent with glass doors that create a clear view through from front to rear garden. A glazed quarter-dome rooflight gives good toplight to the hub and internal rooms adjacent. The south facing rear of new kitchen/dining area has folding sliding doors to the garden; a brise soleil for the south facing aspect was to be added but fell foul of the budget. The new kitchen/dining area has a full-height glazed door linking to the hallway and the rest of the original house and an internal window to the stairwell.
There is another internal window in the hallway revealing the playroom space beyond, new link and garden, allowing a glimpse of further spaces on first arrival. The net effect is a ground floor reconfigured to give it an unbroken flow.
