Our clients wanted to add a new contemporary extension comprising an open plan Kitchen, Dining and Family area. The key aims were to create a new space that reflected the way they lived their lives, in a communal family space, and to better link the internal spaces with the garden. The design solution was to create a space, where the eye is led through the centre of the plan from the beautiful existing portico to the new glazed doors and garden beyond. High level ‘clerestory’ windows lift the visual weight of the roof, while the central rooflight brings focus back to the centre of the space. The interface between the old and the new is managed through a glazed slot in the roof. The floor finish is polished concrete which ties the different areas of the plan together as well as contributing to the clean contemporary aesthetic. Externally, the matching brickwork base is topped by a standing seam zinc roof which gives a fantastic quality that is both handmade and modern that is a joy to look at. The resulting addition is respectful of the original house whilst bringing its own unique character to form a new architectural relationship. The project won a York Design Award in 2017 in the Small Residential category. The judges said of the scheme: “ The building is very modest and simple, unobtrusive but remarkably characterful. The roof spans between the party walls leaving a top-lit slot against the original back wall of the house with its handsome door-case. The simple palette of materials – plaster, polished concrete, second hand bricks and timber and zinc roofing – is beautifully detailed inside and out. This has clearly been a hugely successful collaboration between client and architect, and provides an excellent model for contemporary extensions to traditional houses of this sort.”