Tray House

Our proposal to bring new life into this suburban, 4-bedroom house in East London involved replacing its Victorian, cellular arrangement of spaces with a new connected dynamic between inside and outdoor space suitable for a young family. The starting point of the design was the placement of a single material into the site – a black brick tray; a room laid into the garden against the grain of the existing Victorian House.

Conceptually, the walls and floor of the new black brick tray were then carved away to create connections between the inside of the house and the garden; expanding the garden in to the house and the kitchen into the garden. The openings in the ‘tray’ were controlled to reveal glimpses of the black brick from the inside and the delicate outline of the newly-formed openings in the Victorian house from the outside.

The black bricks used in the extension are cut in half and used as tiles on the floor that runs inside to out. The kitchen and dining spaces are further connected to the garden with a timber-clad island that forms part of the kitchen worktop extending to form an external dining table and garden bench with a bin store underneath.

Over the bench sits an all-sliding, all-hinged and pivoted window-cum-door that can open to varying levels of openness. An opening that provides a practical, versatile and fluid transition space between inside and out which helps to provide a new lease of life into the Victorian House. A home now fit for modern family life.

Awards
NLA Awards – Best Use of Brick: Winner
RIBA Awards: Shortlisted

Publications
Evening Standard – 2009