Oatlands
by SOUP Architects
Client Private Client
Awards RIBA South East Award 2018 and RIBA South East Small Project Award 2018
An unexpected surprise hidden behind a pastiche-style suburban house. It is a complete transformation, with a new rear extension and garden pavilion and extensive internal refurbishment.
The architects have created a delightful, spacious series of spaces that open up to the garden and significantly enhance the client’s life in the house. The new additions are bold, employing an asymmetrical form, which is a departure from the usual run-of-the-mill, glass box house extensions.
These moves are a contextual response to the site: the geometry of the new extension and pavilion unlock parts of the garden previously disconnected from the house.
The garden pavilion has an idyllic location located in a beautifully-landscaped garden, at the point where the garden kicks off in a different direction unseen from the main house.
It is the knuckle which connects the garden to the house and offers opportunities to retreat and work peacefully, with views down the garden but with half an eye on what the kids are up to in the house.
The material palette is simple and robust: grey bricks, used on walls both inside and out. This gives a solidity and sculptural quality, which is simple and bold, avoiding fussy detailing and complex junctions.
The project was delivered on a reasonably tight budget, yet demonstrates a high quality and clever resourcefulness.
Contractor Verve Concepts
Structural Engineer BTA Structural Design
Landscape Architect Rosalind Millar Landscape Design
Internal Area 264 m²
