SECRETS OF SUCCESS
Extended family
When a London couple decided to extend their Victorian terrace house to make family life easier, an ingenious solution by their architect unlocked ample space and light, as Roseanne Field reports
T
he home of Rachel Ray-Choudhuri and Jason Bonning – a three-storey Victorian terrace in east London – while once ideal for them, was becoming a squeeze as their three children grew up. The somewhat convoluted layout had worked in previous years, but now couldn’t provide the privacy their teenage children needed – their son and daughter sharing a room was far from ideal.
“We had room, but not rooms,” Rachel says. “The design had worked well when the children were little but was not helpful as they started needing their own space.” They considered moving to find
something better suited to their changing needs as a family, and began shopping for houses. At this point, they realised their house had more space than they had thought; it was simply poorly configured. “The houses we looked at weren’t bigger, just differently laid out,” explains Rachel. “We realised we had plenty of space.” Being reluctant to move from the area, the houses they found that offered more space were five storey Georgian properties, which were “way above our budget,” says Rachel.
The couple approached Martin Gruenanger at Space Group Architects and set him the task of finding a solution. Rachel and Jason’s house is one of six that the practice have completed on the same road, which lies within Tower Hamlets’ Driffield Road conservation area. Although this fact did cause a few minor hiccups, issues were kept to a minimum thanks to the architects’ local experience. They also took care of the planning process, which, says Rachel, “meant we had much less stress. They were amazing.”
STRIKING A BALANCE
When it came to designing the work to be done, Rachel and Jason had a few key requirements. The most important element was squeezing in an additional bedroom – taking the house from three bedrooms to four. They also wanted an open plan kitchen/living area, a bathroom on every floor, and somewhere to dry washing so it wasn’t “draped around everything,” Rachel says. Their final requirement was more aesthetic – an exposed ‘London brick’ interior wall. Although they had a wish list, Rachel and Jason were very much guided by Martin on the design aspects. “I was most concerned about the budget and getting the bedrooms,” explains Rachel. “It was Martin who had the vision and made sure it ended up looking stunning. We couldn’t have imagined it on our own.” As well as their list of features, it was important to Jason and Rachel that the house struck the
july/august 2019
www.sbhonline.co.uk 31
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