In a park-like neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas, a sweet limestone cottage of just 1,400 sq.ft. has been quietly enlarged, doubled in fact, to accommodate a modern family. The additions were designed with high respect to the original builder and character of the home and the area. Continue reading →

I firmly believe that the best designs are born from challenges, as limitations offer incredible opportunities for genius. In this study and dining room conservatory addition, Barnaby Gunning Architects devised a stunning and modern addition to a registered home in London. The neighboring house built a two story addition that left this home with an overwhelming blank brick wall. The solution was to cover the brick wall with a small first floor study and a garden level conservatory to be used as a dining room. Continue reading →

Kempson Road Residence, by Giles Pike Architects, is an 1870’s brick house in London that has been updated with an impressive double-height glass extension in the back of the building. Five floors where completely refurbished following a clear intervention that balanced old and new: existing materials like brick and wood established a rich tectonic dialogue with new elements like steel and glass. Continue reading →

A small two-story cabin forms an extension to a woodland house in Ontario, Canada, surrounded by a dense forest where white snow seems to rule during wintertime. This unusual 65sqm volume was erected in order to shelter a brand new dining and living room. An impressive black-pitched roof seems to be floating between the trees and the existing house. This optical illusion is created by a mirrored paneled exterior reflecting the surrounding trees, while a sheltered area marks the entrance to the front of the cabin. Continue reading →

House extensions can lead to surprising outcomes, and the Tree House Extension by 6a Architects is one of these special cases. Don’t be mistaken by the name of this project. No buildings are hanging on branches or suspended by any kind of means. On the contrary, Tree House seems to be firmly rooted with the 1830’s back garden of two houses in London. Continue reading →

Sometimes a simple extension can resurrect an obscure apartment building like in Le Noirmont, Switzerland. To gain extra space for the existing complex of apartments, a new external staircase was developed. A limited budget lead to the final solution: a lightweight structure composed by standard steel elements assumes the skeleton of this new addition. Continue reading →

A Japanese house extension was built for a family who wants to keep two generations close by. In Shizuoka, Japan there’s a small two-story building with a total floor area of 82sqm that fulfills these special requirements: a house for sheltering the sleeping and study areas of a young couple while social areas were kept in a shared logic with the existing house. Flexibility was a goal to be achieved in this singular context, so an ingenious design explored the traditional values of Japanese architecture in a more dynamic approach. Continue reading →

In London there’s an old Victorian building that shelters a private school in a dense urban context. A new extension on top of the existing brick volume was needed in order to respond to the increasing number of students and lack of empty spaces around the site. Continue reading →

In Hobart, Australia there’s a new extension connected to a 1970’s brick house. This type of architectonic surgery needs to be dealt with responsibility in order to keep the careful balance between old and new. And in this particular case of the Dual Court House, I think its fair to say we have a winner. Continue reading →

How amazing is it for a family to see their former home being double-sized in the gentlest of ways… In Melbourne, Australia Profile House testifies such a remarkable conquest by extending the original 87sqm house by an additional 83sqm of total floor area. This unique architectonic transformation happens in a single-story building, using a new facade, referencing the surrounding brick and corrugated iron warehouses as well as the timber-clad exterior of the original building. A special effect was developed here: a wooden wall with a silhouette of three small buildings lines the edge of this contemporary house extension. Continue reading →