Thornbury is a family home for a 2 adults and 2 growing children.

Their commitment to improve the existing house, retain the heritage features and reduce their carbon footprint was key to their brief. For us as architects the key was to create a second storey addition that sat harmoniously with the existing single storey Edwardian timber dwelling.

Having worked with houses of this era before, we were confident that we could retain the heritage details with integrity, while adding second storey.

The existing house rear yard faced south and provided minimal back garden space and minimal light. Wanting to preserve the outdoor spaces and the heritage details, provided us with a real design challenge.

We responded by completely transforming the rear of the house to provide two additional rooms, a bedroom and a music room, creating a compact house design and upstairs section that maximised the rear yard allowing sunlight to reach the garden.

In spite of the south facing living areas, our clever use of skylights and well placed windows gives the house a light-filled and comfortable air. We took advantage of the north facing front garden and roof to add raised garden beds for a kitchen garden, and installed solar panels.