The Victorian terrace home they recently purchased in London had charming original details, but Ben Bignall and his partner saw more potential in the plan. “The kitchen was cramped with just a single narrow door connecting to the rear garden, which was cluttered with planters,” says Ben. To make the space better for entertaining and cooking, the couple enlisted architecture firm Bureau de Change to reimagine the ground floor with a new extension.

The design team began by researching the Hackney area, where the home stands, and discovered a number of historical catalogs used to build Victorian shop fronts. “A key characteristic of this era were filleted glass corners that framed entrances and formed bay windows,” says Billy Mavropoulos, one of the firm’s founders. More features included ornamental cornices and decorative window bars, which provided a “starting point for the design, and a contemporary twist,” he says.

Due to elements of the existing home that needed to be retained—including a basement lit via a rear light well and a bathroom on the second level that sat above the existing kitchen—the extension needed to be sandwiched between two floors with respect to existing ceiling heights.

“This proved to be a challenge as we had to keep the cantilevered roof depth to a minimum in order to have a comfortable head clearance,” says Mavropoulos. “It was a kind of structural gymnastics.” In response, Bureau de Change pulled the extension away from the side of the house and then inward to maintain the light to the basement.

The clients love to entertain, so a lot of focus was placed on the kitchen’s layout and features. They hired a local joiner to help them carry out their vision. The kitchen’s wall units were kept all white, including the tap and sink, to blend into the background, and the worktop is Neolith’s Just White solid surface." layout="bleed" credit="Photo by Gilbert McCarragher" photoUserId=""/>

Wrapped in curving, floor-to-ceiling glass panels, the new structure maximizes its connection to the surrounding garden, its pavilion-style roof floating overhead with just a single column for support. “It was actually a complex structural balancing act,” says Mavropoulos.

“We liked working within the constraints of a historic property. It reminded us of all the opportunities Victorian houses present to be brought up to modern standards.”
—Billy Mavropoulos, architect

The ground floor is now a bright, open space where Ben and his partner can host gatherings. An entrance corridor leads directly into the central dining room, with a sitting room at the front and the new kitchen extension to the rear. Double doors at the back open into the garden, which was stripped of old built-in elements to make it feel larger. “The design has been transformative,” says Ben. “The new pavilion draws you through the house and adds a light-filled space that we can enjoy year round.”

Inside, the kitchen is decorated in a soft palette of neutral grays and whites that allow the dark frames of the glazed wall to stand out. A dark kitchen island clad in a durable, stone-like material from Neolith and bespoke routed timber panels take center stage. The monolithic form of the island grounds the open-plan space, balancing the more expressive, sculptural form of the glazed envelope that wraps the extension.

“With its curved glass walls and irregular form, the pavilion brings in more daylight and creates a more dynamic threshold into the garden than would have been achieved with a standard full width extension,” explains Caitlin Tobias Kenessey, an associate at Bureau de Change. “The push-pull geometry creates pockets and corners which the furniture nestles into.”

The project opens up an intriguing dialogue between the home’s Victorian origins and the residents’ desire for contemporary living. In ways, subtle historic reference points have been given a thoroughly contemporary interpretation. “We liked working within the constraints of a historic property,” says Mavropoulos. “It reminded us of all the opportunities Victorian houses present to be brought up to modern standards.”

Related Reading:

A Terrace Home in London Gets a Luminous Extension While Keeping a Low Profile

A Glass Courtyard Brings the Garden Inside a London Terrace House

Project Credits:

Architect: Bureau de Change / @bureaudechange_architects

Builder: STEC Construction

Structural Engineer: Simple Works

Photographers: French + Tye / @frenchandtye & Gilbert McCarragher / @gilbertmccarragher