A new extension unlocks a home’s potential - embracing sunlight, views and nature
This end of terrace house, which previously turned its back on the canal, has been transformed with a simple but ingenious extension that is inspired by the wonderful natural setting
aaltspace will always look beyond everyday solutions for a transformative idea that will really enhance the use and enjoyment of your home. Aaltspace worked closely with the clients during the early briefing stages to discover the potential hidden in their home and exceed their expectations of what was possible.
An unpromising side passage with a tricky tapering shape and 1m drop in height across its length became the generator of the new extension’s form. Without direct garden access, this mainly blank gable wall was opened up in two places to create direct physical links from the front living room and the rear kitchen/dining room into a new light filled garden room overlooking the canal.
As aaltspce was designing next to the Union Canal which is a Scheduled Monument, a sympathetic approach was required that would meet the scrutiny of Historic and Environment Scotland. After negotiation, we agreed a solution that allowed the new volume to nestle behind the canal’s boundary wall without physically touching it. In the final design, the wall is celebrated as a beautiful object in itself and the generator for the 8 meter long panoramic strip window designed to be column free. The glazed gable ends to the extension track the morning and afternoon sun, and lead your eye into the gardens and along the wild and verdant banks of the canal. The owners are lucky enough to balance aspects of urban and rural living in the heart of the city: modern convenience with a canal side lifestyle that they can now enjoy to the full.
Engineering: Calum Bennett Engineering Ltd
Construction: Robert Reid Joinery & Building
Bespoke Cabinetry & Joinerwork: Baz Waddell of E.C. Marine
“Where does the potential in a project lie? What relationship is yet to be revealed? What new synthesis explored? Aaltspace will guide you in the design of your project and provide a design that continues to delight and inspire you every day.”
Bespoke cabinetry in Oak is functional but beautiful, concealing storage and heating but also integral to the design of the room
Looking down into the new garden room from the existing stairwell - everything feels interconnected and orientated to the canal
A new extension on the bank of the Union Canal by aaltspace architects, unlocks a home’s potential - embracing sunlight, views and nature.
Design Development
Listening, talking and drawing are the core ways aaltspace develops and communicates their vision for a project to a client. During initial meetings, we discuss a project’s feasibility and look at ways of interpreting the client’s brief. We try to elevate the pragmatic to the poetic in a way that surprises and delights. In this project, the key was to activate what were previously disparate rooms with a new garden room extension that knitted together living and social spaces. For the client, the new garden room performs a function akin to a hide from which to quietly view nature, observe the changing seasons and to watch the lazy pace of daily life along this beautiful stretch of water.
Existing Ground Floor Plan - before the redesign
Proposed Ground Floor Plan
In a simple move, a new extension activates the existing plan & garden & creates new a relationship with canal
Proposed Section
The historic stone boundary wall and the protected status of the Union Canal helped inform the design of the garden room which nestles behind the wall without touching it. The resulting 8m long, column free panoramic window, frames the views to the canal
3D Montage: Early image produced for the client to test the scale and form of the extension and communicate the design’s ambition
Construction
Part of the pleasure of working with your client is watching their building emerge out of the ground piece by piece, as it gradually fills the site taking on a more recognisable form. As the structural frame is erected and the roof built, it literally begins to define space and points tantalisingly towards the final form of the new garden room. This is always a really exciting stage for everyone involved.
The existing site - a wedge shaped side passage with no direct connection to the garden
A delicate steel frame is inserted and the existing stair well window is bisected by a new stone cill
An economic timber floor spans onto the existing gable wall and reduces the need for foundations
The roof’s form responds directly to the wedge shaped site geometry creating a varying scale to the new garden room
Careful detailing of the structure and roof framing to conceal the gutter maintains the sharp profile of the roof overhang and eaves
The original design intent to leave the historic wall untouched is clearly seen in the resolution of the structure mid-construction
All photography, imagery and content is the copyright of Nick O’Neill of aaltspace