Projects

The brief

The owners wanted to increase the living space in the flat and take advantage of the opportunities offered by the double height original kitchen (now the main living room for the flat).

The property

The original house, now sub-divided into flats, is one of the four large corner houses in Sussex Square. Until fifteen years ago much of the basement area was un-inhabitable storage with flagstone floors.
Works in 2005 created the flat as it now exists and it is one of two flats located in the basement of the house. The property occupies the original kitchen for the whole house, the servant’s stairs from the basement to the ground floor and some of the basement storage and food preparation rooms.
The property retains a number of original features including a double height kitchen, the original cast iron range, a large timber sliding sash window in the kitchen and York stone stairs leading from the ground level to the basement. A mezzanine gallery at ground floor level, created as part of the earlier refurbishment works, overlooks the double height living room.

The solution

The solution was to extend the mezzanine into one end of the double height living room with access to it through an existing but blocked up opening at ground floor level. The mezzanine has been designed to minimize the impact upon the historic structure of the building with a simple cantilevered structure, no supporting posts, and a frameless glass balustrade.

The result

The mezzanine structure is in place and the work is yet to be finished but already it opens up the flat, creates more space and gives a wonderful new perspective into the old kitchen.
The new structure respects the form, volume, and feel of the original double-height kitchen whilst allowing it to be read as a modern addition to this historic house.