After living in their home for years the clients entrusted us with the renovation of their family home. The house had undergone a number of additions and alteration, including the addition of a sun room and undercover braai area which had subsequently become the client’s favourite room in the house. When visiting the home, we could understand why, these areas were sun filled but to the detriment of the rest of the house.  The extension had been added to the Northern façade, allowing the house to become compartmentalised and eliminating any sun to reach the original kitchen, dining and living area.

99% of the time when clients approach you, they expect you to increase the square meterage of their house. Instead we took a bold stance and proposed to demolish their favourite sun room and undercover braai area, demolishing 30m2, to reinstate a sun filled kitchen, dining and living area so that these spaces could once again become usable.

Because it was an old Walmer house the concept was to juxtapose the old existing structure with any new elements incorporated. This translated into leaving the existing walls a light smooth element and juxtaposing it against vertical elements, finished in a dark exposed brick, used to subtly define the spaces along an East West axis and further extended into the gardens on the North and South side to blur the line between the interior and exterior of the house. This concept is further accentuated by the timber ceiling used in such a way to soften the transition between inside and outside.