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When the owners of this Portobello home first approached Newmark Architects, co-founder Sinead Bourke explains that the house had an existing extension. Housing the kitchen and dining area, it was small and dark. “There was no direct connection between the main body of the house and the garden, as it was blocked by a bathroom,” she explains.
What the owners were looking for was a bright space that was large enough to entertain, and would be the focus of the home. “As the rear garden is east-facing,” Sinead says, “the back of the house receives mainly morning light and the client was eager to get more sunlight into the extension later into the day.”
To help the extension feel more connected to the rest of the house, a ground floor bathroom was removed, linking the extension to the stairwell. “This also provides a direct visual connection from the main body of the house through to the garden,” Sinead says. “A new bathroom and utility room were located deep in the middle of the plan at ground floor level to occupy the darkest part in the house.”
Because the windows were a prominent part of the design, Sinead explains that a lot of thought went into choosing them. “We chose an iroko timber window frame, complemented with a wide-plank timber floor in a limed oak finish and subtle wall tiling in a muted tone to lend some texture to the room without being overpowering. The iroko of the glazing is picked up in the client’s mid-century furniture.”
The result is a warm, welcoming space, flooded with natural light.
Photography: Aisling McCoy