It speaks of the trust already developed between client and architect that the owners were willing to consider another renovation. That trust was rewarded with the best of both worlds; the art deco character and family history that came with the original house plus a new extension with a beautifully workable floor plan and gorgeous connection to the garden. (There was a small consolation with regard to the regrettable ‘00s extension: it had beautiful floorboards, which were re-used.)

All this is wrapped up in a new airtight building envelope featuring all the Passivhaus components, ensuring a warm, comfortable and healthy home. In fact the building surpassed the requirements for a PHI retrofit (the EnerPHit standard) and qualifies as Passivhaus Plus. That outstanding result flowed from good architectural detailing and a lot of good execution. The builders were outstanding and the project benefitted from the Passivhaus experience they had gained while building our designs previously. Render on the masonry exterior of the original house serves as an effective airtight layer.

There are several design elements that weave together the old and the new, both inside and outside. The new extension is clad in narrow vertical timber cladding, which also features on a dramatic wall that leads from the kitchen to the living room. The front curved wall, behind which the staircase winds up to the first floor, is echoed in the new wall of the kitchen, this time lined with timber.

Photography by Evan Maclean