Our clients have lived in Wimbledon with their four sons since 1989. They came to us to adapt the house to their evolving needs. Their neat 1930s house is one of a collection built on a steep hill overlooking South London. Its original design apparently ignored the ground on which it was built; from the street, it sits comfortably on the site; from the rear, the living spaces float a storey above the mature garden, which is left feeling aloof and separate. This disconnection is also felt inside: the generous space provided at basement level is poorly-lit and truncated from the upper parts of the house. To resolve this imbalance, and to create a bright new living space, we proposed removal of the uncomfortable lower part of the rear façade, and replacement with a double-height, formal extension to the rear. The new space, conceived as an Orangery, is a lantern. It gathers sunlight for the deep living spaces within, and generously opens the interior to the garden below. It is also a connecting space, set at a level half way between the existing kitchen and new basement pool room. The kitchen enjoys improved views while at the same time allowing for separate and private operation of each of the living spaces. Slender steel-framed glazing gives the new structure a sense of fine fragility, while the use of oak in the bespoke furniture to the Orangery, the new staircase and the kitchen joinery forms a material continuity between the new spaces and the old.