James Alder Architects has completed an extension to a house in south London, adding rooms dedicated to gardening, bicycle maintenance, and a new family kitchen.
The practice, with offices in London and Copenhagen, designed the spacious Tabberner Cook House extension for a family of four living in Crystal Palace.
Encompassing the rear and side of the property, the 57-square-metre addition offers more than a typical London extension by providing dedicated areas for outdoor-focused hobbies.
The standout feature is the indoor “potting shed,” which has ample space for growing plants and storing gardening tools. This room includes an oak-framed greenhouse cabinet accessible from both the potting area and the kitchen.
Additional planters are integrated throughout, running along the kitchen and shaping the tiers of a new patio terrace.
A workshop is located behind the potting room, providing a space for bicycle storage and maintenance. Other features include a WC, a pantry, and a compact utility room.
“The brief was to create a series of generous living spaces that were closely connected with the garden and gardening,” Alder explained to Dezeen.
“The clients also wanted a number of ancillary rooms to accommodate their interest in biking, and to free up the ground floor by adding significant storage to the redesigned kitchen.”
The material choices were selected to withstand the practical nature of these spaces, while avoiding an overly utilitarian atmosphere in the living areas.
Alder achieved this by using light-toned, durable materials, creating a brighter feel for the extension, in contrast to the main house’s darker brickwork and slate roof.
White brick is used for both the interior and exterior walls, as well as for the stepped terrace and boundary wall. Above, a whitened glulam timber waffle-slab ceiling, fitted with skylights, is left exposed.
The upper walls and roof are clad externally in zinc panels fabricated on-site, which coordinate with the aluminium-framed glazing that wraps around the rear and side elevations in two distinct bands.
“The natural zinc will gradually develop a patina, giving a subtle, varied texture to the upper facades,” said Alder.
“Extensive areas of the southwest-facing facade can also be opened up, allowing for flexible use.”
“This means the entire ground floor extension, as needed, can function much like a greenhouse, giving the residents flexibility in how much space is devoted to horticulture,” Alder added.
The interiors are designed for durability, featuring polished concrete flooring in the kitchen and strip drains in the workshop and potting room floors, enabling easy bike washing and plant care.
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