Faceted House 1

This bold remodelling of an Edwardian terraced house within a conservation area in London’s Hammersmith, reconceptualises the conventional notion of the domestic extension. The client requested a contemporary design that blurred the distinction between inside and out, with the garden becoming a continuation of the dwelling space.

Paul McAneary Architects response was to devise an elongated, pavilion-like volume with a 30 degree angle on plan where it meets the garden. Channelling natural light into the interior, this single-storey volume is terminated by a full height glass wall with sliding glass doors held within a crisply faceted zinc facade.

The paved floor of the new extension projects beyond the external wall line to create an outdoor deck, its sharply chamfered profile finessing the transition into the garden. The previously compartmented ground floor of the house is now opened up into a single fluid space, cultivating a sense of physical and perceptual overlapping between indoor and outdoor realms.

Bathed in natural light, the new kitchen-living area expands and transforms the external landscape, while lush planting surrounds and perceptively invades the domestic space through the glass wall and a frameless glass skylight.

Exploring a formal language of solid and void, together with a palette of natural materials designed to improve with age, this project has a rigour and refinement that beautifully demonstrates the transformative potential of architectural imagination. [By Catherine Slessor*]

Contract Value £140k
Location Hammersmith & Fulham, London
Client Private
Date 2008 – 2009
Area 185m²
Design Team Paul McAneary Architects
Design Service Architectural, interior, lighting, kitchen, electrical & mechanical design services, planning consultants/applications, final concept to project completion
Main Contractor Sheppard Construction
Sub Contractor First Glaze Direct
Supplier Rheinzink, Vola, Royal Mosa Tiles
Press 2014 ‘A Contemporary Extension by Paul McAneary Architects’, Contemporist, 26 August 2014, Lindsay Blair, ‘Small Extensions’, Real Homes, August 2014 2013‘Extend your Home’, Grand Designs, July 2013, Jo Messenger, ‘Kitchen Extension’, Real Homes, January 2013, BD New Architects 2013, 2012 Carolina Calzada, ‘SBID International Design Awards – Residential Sector’, SBID, November 2012, Ideal Home, ’Extreme Transformation’, January 2012, The Sourcebook of Contemporary Houses, 2011 Marcelo Seferin, ‘Architect Day: Paul McAneary Architects’, Abuzeedo, 13 September 2011, ’Faceted House 1 by Paul McAneary Architects’, AArchitecture, September 2011, Erika Kim, ‘paul mcaneary architects: tex tonic house 1’, designboom, 27 July 2011, ‘Faceted House 1’, ArchiTonic, July 2011, Claudia Rada, ’Faceted House 1’, Architext, March-April 2011, Alex Nikjoo, ‘Faceted House 1, Hammersmith, London by Paul McAneary Architects’, Architects Journal, 3 February 2017, ’Extensions Special’, Grand Designs, February 2011 ‘Faceted House 1 von Paul McAneary Architects Ltd’, Studio 5555, 25 January 2011, RIBA London Directory 2011, RIBA Interiors Directory 2011, 2010 ’Like New Paul McAneary Architects’, Projectar Casa, December 2010, Laura Galimberti, ‘The garden between the walls’, Design Diffusion News, December 2010, ’Briaunuotas namas’, Centras, December 2010, ’Faceted House 1’, WhoWithWhat.com, October 2010, ’Contemporary Design Faceted House 1 in Hammersmith, London by Paul McAneary Architects’, 20th September 2010, ’Faceted House 1 by Paul McAneary Architects’, architeria.com., 20 September 2010, ’Faceted House 1 by Paul McAneary Architects’, Art you know, September 2010, David McManus, ‘Faceted House, London’, e-architect, 2 June 2010
Awards 2012 SBID – Won Best Residential Space Planning Award 2010 Design Awards – Won Living Space Design of the Year
Exhibitions 2010 New London Architecture ‘Don’t Move, Improve!’