Quick Tour: How A New Zealand Family Transformed Their Sunny Edwardian Home In London

Wednesday Jan. 31, 2024

Viva

This Edwardian house in London’s Putney was given a refresh with a new addition that maximises both light and views.

This charming Edwardian house in a leafy South London suburb was thoughtfully redesigned to capture the light.

New Zealanders Katherine and James and their two children have lived in London for many years.

Like many New Zealanders abroad, they wanted to feel good where they lived, with space, light and a strong connection with nature, says their architect Steve Cox of Cox Architects.

During the pandemic, they seized an opportunity to buy a larger house that ticked all these boxes, but there was one problem — the garden was facing north, away from the Northern Hemisphere sun.

Cox Architects extended the home with the addition of a glass-walled pavilion.

The brief

In conversation with Cox Architects, who had remodelled their previous property, the couple decided the right design could help maximise sunlight, daylight and views out to the garden.

Despite the purchase and early design stages taking place at the height of the pandemic, the couple were able to buy the house and commission the architects.

Their budget dictated a facelift of the existing structure, rather than a rebuild, so the design is a sort of stage-set, behind which a lot of the original building still sits.

A key factor was the trust and understanding that already existed between the owners, architect and builder — they had worked successfully together on the previous remodelling.

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The challenges

Their first technical challenge was that the owners needed natural light — a lot of natural light.

The best way to achieve this was with large skylights — and these were heavy to install.

Specialist lifting equipment was used to haul each one over the top of the house before it was carefully lowered into position.

The kitchen features a combination of soothing natural tones.

The house had previously been refurbished to a high specification and some key elements needed to be kept.

These included underfloor heating, air-conditioning and digital lighting systems.

The builders had to carefully work around these elements and integrate them with the new spaces.

The architects preserved elements from a previous renovation, like underfloor heating and digital lighting.

The details

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Recessed pointing, visible on the external brickwork, was a popular choice for UK architects of the 60s and 70s. It’s easy to do and can look more contemporary than other techniques. See it in the images of the project from the back garden.

The brick type was chosen to complement the original red-brick details of the existing building. The brick columns are not structural but give the impression of a solid support for the long beam above the sliding doors.

The multiple divisions of the sliding glass doors make them easier to operate and create a rhythm across the opening.