When the clients brought the project to Jamie Fobert Architects, their Victorian house in North London was structurally unsound and in need of serious renovation. The building needed to be stabilised and the interior was completely gutted. This presented an opportunity to reconsider the habitats of a typical Victorian home from first principles. Jamie Fobert Architects entirely reconfigured the living spaces. The design strategy was to create a series of interconnected volumes, running from the front of the house through to an addition at the rear of the property. The addition accommodates a generous open-plan kitchen and living space and encloses a section of the garden to provide a secluded garden terrace. Large, single sheet windows overlook the terrace on two sides, maximising natural light for the interior and embracing this portion of the garden as integral to the main living space. The focus on volume, material and light throughout the house means that distinct spaces relate well to one another, creating an overall sense of harmony.