The Brockley House, Brockley, London

Situated in a prominent conservation area, this handsome detached Victorian double-fronted house was in need of modernisation and extension. The brief was to fully refurbish the house, to reveal a set of creative spaces that could be wholly enjoyed by everyone in the family: adults and children.

An extension provides a home working area for the children, as well as the local home educated community: the spaces were designed to foster learning and growth, and to encourage play and creativity. The rear and side extension were clad in a larch that weathers over time, with a sedum roof providing a green outlook from the first floor bedrooms, such visible change and weathering echoing the constant change going on inside a busy family home. It also honours the changes the house has seen since its build in the late 1880's and acknowledges that we are only ever custodians of these constantly moving, ever-changing historical buildings.