Hearths and Home

An extension to a house in Algiers Road, south London, features a playful saw-tooth roof and dual hearths

Algiers Road is a contemporary rear extension by Gruff to an end-of-terrace family house in south London. The striking intervention of timber and concrete renovates and adds 30 square metres to the Victorian home, and was built for just over £160k.

The client brief was for an enlarged living area with intimate family spaces that would simultaneously allow for entertaining all year round. Gruff’s design plays with the idea of the hearth as the focal point of a home, using a duplication of this element to create a fluid connection between the garden and house to draw the outdoors in and the indoors out.

The concrete dual-hearth chimney became integral to the scheme and is a solid sculptural element at the centre of the extension. It is flanked by charred larch cladding that seamlessly folds into the pergola and decking, creating a bold and distinctive profile and accentuating the concrete ribbon.

The rear glazing is composed of sliding panels with minimal frames offering unobstructed long views through the house to the garden beyond.

The massing consciously exploits the stepped terrain along Algiers Road. This gives the design a generous eaves height along the higher boundary and adheres to the height limitations of the lower boundary, resulting in the saw-toothed roof profile.

Inside the extension Gruff delivers a variety of well-designed spaces including a kitchen/dining area, quiet reading alcove and a sunken lounge area. A warm material palette combined with a series of level changes consciously demarcates the open-plan areas, with the deep-blue and polished concrete finishes giving an intimate yet contemporary feel.

Algiers Road’s extension is open and multi-functional, with the outdoor decking and fireplace encouraging entertaining and relaxation long into the summer nights, and the inside providing a variety of warm flexible spaces for the family that feel spacious and connected to the outdoors.