LAKESIDE HOUSE Extension and refurbishment, Letchlade-on-Thames 2024 -
Refurbishment and extension to a lakeside home near Letchlade-on-Thames in the Cotswolds. The existing property is a two storey system-built timber frame house from the early 2000s, built to one of several standardised plans that it shares with its neighbours across the Lakes by Yoo development. It is approached from the public highway on foot through a narrow stip of woodland bordered by a small stream which then opens up to the lakes. Due to its standardised nature, the design of the house only responds to its lakeside setting; the woodland context to the north, east and west is ignored with only obscured glazing from bathrooms looking out. The intention of the extension is to correct this, creating a new family living space and two guest bedrooms that respond to the woodland edge and rework the circulation of the home to improve the efficiency of the existing floor space.
The extension sits in the north west corner of the building with a gently curved front elevation reducing its profile on approach and avoiding encroaching on the tree line. At ground floor level, a double height hallway creates a lobby to the reception spaces meaning that the lake view is no longer revealed immediately on arrival. The staircase has been relocated from the north east corner of the plan, moving the primary circulation route away from the living room. A new family room wraps around the existing living space enclosing a previously underused recess and creating a new 42.5 sqm multifunctional space from 30sqms of new floor area. Large sliding doors on two sides allow you to step down into the woodland edge, whilst a third, south facing door projects beyond the existing house to provide a lake view.
On the first floor, the extension connects to the existing landing with a new top lit gallery looking down into the hall, creating some vertical connectivity in an entirely lateral existing floorplan. The two guest bedrooms look north into the tree canopy with fixed spruce fins angled to prevent views in from outside, both have small en-suite bathrooms enclosed in curved partitions which maximise the floor area of the bedroom. The extension is clad in Scandinavian Spruce boards, vertical in orientation and narrow in profile in order to wrap around the curved elevation without appearing faceted. This is in contrast with the horizontal Larch boards of the existing house which are now fully grey after 15 years of weathering and therefore considered impossible to accurately match. The boards are broken on the long north east elevation by a continuous spruce band at first floor level, whist the Spruce fins screening the first floor windows are angled to give the impression of a solid volume on approach, rather than one punctuated with large areas of glass. A prominent rooflight in the shape of a triangular prism its on the party wall between old and new giving a clearer definition to the transition. Its strong geometric from, curved primary elevation and narrow vertical cladding boards, is reminiscent of Charles Gwathmey’s house and studio for his parents on Long Island, which was a key reference point for the form of the extension.
