A classic infill of a redundant alleyway to the rear of a semi-detached Victorian house in Brixton. The aim was to provide a sensitive addition to the property, improve internal circulation, better connect internal and outdoor spaces, and create far more usable family living spaces.

As is typical of Victorian houses, the gable-ended rear part of the house projected into the garden, with a cramped kitchen at ground floor level and bedrooms above. This projecting part of the house left a redundant space outside the existing kitchen door and behind the living room rear door.

Through infilling this redundant space, the existing kitchen and dining area was expanded to create a much more generous room opening directly to the garden. The enlarged kitchen / dining room also connects directly to the rear of the existing living room – allowing a more natural flow around the ground floor living areas of the house.

The roof of side extension is planted with wild flowers which enhances the views from the upstairs rear bedroom and neighbour’s upstairs rooms. This new roof connects to the existing house with a band of brick-slip cladding which conceals the new steel beam support and depth of the green roof. The brick slips were cut down and reused from the bricks of the original kitchen walls so they match the rest of the building exactly.

At the right hand side of the new elevation a frameless glass corner wraps around the corner to create a lightweight edge to the new space. Internally the new ground flooris entirely column free. Dominic McKenzie Architects worked carefully with Brixton based structural engineers TALL to achieve this. The overall effect is of a modern and highly glazed base to the house, above which the more heavyweight Victorian architecture appears to hover.