A home revealed beneath the surface
Our clients came to us with a modest but complex brief: to transform a small, single-bedroom ground-floor apartment into a generous, light-filled family home. The property sat within a substantial Victorian building, with a private garden to the rear, but the space itself was constrained, both physically and functionally.
What they wanted was more than just extra rooms. They hoped for a complete reimagining of the apartment’s potential: more bedrooms, better light, and a stronger connection to the garden, while working within the tight spatial and structural limits of the original footprint.
Rather than extend outwards, we looked down. The basement beneath the flat offered the opportunity to unlock significant new space without impacting the building above or the neighbours beyond. By excavating and lowering the floor, we were able to create two comfortable bedrooms and a bathroom on the lower level, while reconfiguring the ground floor to include two more bedrooms and an open, fluid living arrangement.
The plan is choreographed around changing levels. A generous kitchen and sitting area sit at the centre, but it’s the dining space that defines the transformation, pushed out beneath the structure, enclosed in glass, and nestled into the garden. It’s here the new architecture feels most present: open to sky and greenery, yet still anchored within the fabric of the building.
The reconfigured apartment feels expansive and calm, shaped by light, material and topography. Spaces flow naturally around the changes in level, and the relationship between inside and out is immediate and generous. What was once a compact flat is now a layered, four-bedroom home, crafted with care, and completely reimagined from within.