Remodelling, retrofit and extension to family home in Wisborough Green, inspired by the Usonian principles of American Midwestern architecture.
Our designs unify what is currently something of a confused collage of a building into a coherent architectural whole, marrying inspiration from the original form and treatment with the client’s desire for Usonian design, with significant improvements to energy performance.
The house is being reconfigured to provide additional living space and create a stronger relationship with nature, in a design language appropriate to the wider local area.
A Healthy Home
The primary ambition is to create a healthy and low-energy home, through a combination of remodelling, extension and fabric upgrades.
Internally, the entrance sequence is adjusted for a more generous arrival, introducing long-views from front to back. The garage is converted to become a space for home-working, while a rear extension provides dining and family space with improved connection to the garden. Adjustments to the utility spaces offer a place for muddy shoes, bikes and storage.
Upstairs, minor adjustments – including a small rear extension, and a levelling of the foors- introduce an additional bedroom and rationalise some of the quirks of the existing layout.
A Unified Composition
As the sequence of elevations opposite shows, the design seeks to recall something of the original form, without compromising internal living space that the previous extensions created.
The roofline is reconsidered to give visual priority to the main body of the house with the side extension clearly secondary, to improve the perceived balance and reduce the sheerness of the facade on approach.
The majority of first floor window openings are retained, with new fenestration below designed to better relate to these to help unify the composition. Material expression recalls the banding widely seen in the local area, allowing the building to make a positive contribution to the wider streetscape.
A Low-Energy Home
The building as originally constructed in the 1960s, and even with alterations as recent as 2011 is ill-equipped to address the Climate Emergency. Adopting a ‘fabric-first’ approach, a principal driver for the design is the need to improve the thermal and airtightness performance throughout.
To this end, the massing has been rationalised to limit cold-bridging and introduce additional insulation the external walls and roof. Windows are to be replaced with higher-performance alternatives, while improved glazing, canopies and overhanging roof construction help mitigate solar gain internally.
A photovoltaic (PV) array is proposed to the roof to generate electricity on-site, which will help combat the known inconsistency of supply in the area.
Material Expression
The preferred design, explored with extensive testing, seeks to retain as much of the existing fabric as possible, to limit the heavy carbon cost of demolition.
External materials are largely applied over additional insulation, with a simple palette of breathable render and timber weatherboard cladding to each facade.
Ground floor windows are to be framed with a rhythm of verticals creating elegantly proportioned openings that allow the sunlight to stream in. At first floor level existing uPVC windows are replaced with slim-profile aluminium framed windows with an improved U-value performance.
The existing flat roof above the entrance porch and garage is to be retained, insulated and extended, offering protection from the summer sun whilst letting winter light flood the spaces.
This logic is continued to the rear extension, albeit with a reduced canopy overhang given the building’s orientation. The new proposed mono-pitched roofs at second floor level oversail
to provide some further shade, finished in a slate tile with in-line PV array as previously stated.
The first phase of the project is currently on site, with completion due in 2026
