Somerville Gardens

Brief

The property at Somerville Gardens had, in its past, been converted into 3 separate apartments and some minor extension works had taken place to the rear of the property. As such the garden had been divided to serve the ground & first floor apartments with fencing running through the landscape. The small rear extension housed a dining room and W/C which caused the kitchen to be located centrally in the floor-plan, having no relationship with the rear garden or front streetscape. The current owners bought the property after the ground & first floor apartments had been reconnected to form one unit, however the layout of the ground floor and relationship to the rear garden remained disjointed. CAA’s brief was to rationalise the areas at ground floor level and reestablish a connection with the southern garden.

Response

The existing rear extension was accessed through the kitchen by a narrow doorway, it was poorly insulated, had an uneven floor and trial holes found it to be resting on poor foundations. It was decided therefore to be replaced rather than attempting an upgrade. A key feature of the new extension, which is of similar footprint to what was there previously, is the chamfered corner which opens a glass façade to true-South. The cut from what would otherwise be a traditional gable-end, creates an immediate connection with the newly unified garden. By opening the end of the extension up to South, natural light is able to puncture the kitchen/dining space until late evening; this allowed us to retain the existing kitchen, extending it slightly by only a couple of units.

We are very pleased with the service we received from Coleman Anderson throughout the significant refurbishment of our large Victorian home. The team produced a number of interesting ideas for the design of our project which we discussed in some detail before “pressing the button” on our preferred solution. We are genuinely delighted with the outcome which combines careful / sensitive restoration with exciting modern elements. We have no reservations in highly recommending Coleman Anderson for a project such as ours. It was a fun process which resulted in us having a wonderful, bright and practical home.