The new owners, a Film Director and his wife wanted to create two new living spaces. The first was a garden room which could also be used for entertaining and family gatherings. The second, a studio space for writing and working.

The new studio and garden room are formed by capturing the external space behind a transparent glass edge. Its path is formed by negotiating the new programme of spaces, the existing building, landscaping and trees that are contained between the boundaries of the garden.

Internally the ground floor spaces were modified to centre the kitchen area within the heart of the ground floor plan. The two new spaces are located below delicate roof elements that appear to float within the landscape providing "shelter" and creating an intimate sense of place below.

The roof elements are held away from the existing building by horizontal glazing which retains the old facade behind and allows daylight and sun light to enter closer to the "middle" of the extended ground floor plan.

The glass is described only by reflections and the structural joints that secure it. The boundary between inside and outside has been replaced with ambiguity, illusion and a sense of connection.

The new enclosure is a transitional space. A space that links programmatically the new with the old and regenerates the existing building to respond to a new way of living and working.

2nd Prize
AJ Robin Ellis Small Project Award, 1999.