Dartmouth Park House radically transforms an end-of-terrace Victorian building into a unique and airy residence, the result of an extensive dialogue between client and architect. The existing building, located at the end of a parade of shops, had over time been poorly subdivided and overdeveloped, completely filling in the rear garden to maximize use. The ground floor and basement were devoid of natural light, while the house above enjoyed a rear terrace with long views to the west over neighbouring gardens. The brief started as a modest intervention to improve the ground floor and evolved into a substantial spatial redevelopment on four levels. The design was approached as a reductive process of opening up the building, both vertically and horizontally, seeking to create a home where daylight, views, orientation and outdoor space play a central role. Each indoor space acquires a new relationship to the exterior, whether physically, as with the new sunken courtyard at the core of the re-built rear extension, or through sunlight and views. The courtyard space creates an outdoor room extending living activities on the ground floor while a two-level terrace wraps around it directly above. A new vertical void, formed by two and three story spaces, links the street to the rear connecting visually the entrance with the terrace and gardens. A slender crafted staircase within it theatrically animates all levels of the house. Solid FSC certified hardwood joinery defines both extracted and extended spaces, unifying the internal and external world. The timber joinery elements were all detailed by AY Architects and fabricated in Nicaragua.