Bureau De change

Step House

Step House

Step House

Bureau De Change

STATUS
Built

YEAR
2018

LOCATION
London, United Kingdom

TYPE
Residential › Private House

Step House

Instead of the more expected glass structure, this innovative addition reimagines the conventional terraced-house extension, celebrating and elevating the humble brick.

The brick’s inherent potential as a stackable module is maximised to create a more sculptural expression of the material.

Using bricks reclaimed from the fabric of the house, the extension exploits the rights of light diagram to create a staggered, extruded form that appears to melt away from the existing structure.

Step House
Step House
Step House

This rhythmic stepping generated by the brick is echoed throughout the interior and is integrated in both the plan and section. Viewed from the terrace above, the form creates a striking silhouette – a feature rare in more straightforward additions.

Inside, the domestic setting is dramatised by a considered sequencing of spaces – transforming the expansive ground floor into a journey through carefully designed ambiences.

Step House
Step House

The standard layout has been flipped, with the kitchen taking its new place at the front of the house – an often underused, forgotten space. Here, the original features of the house are retained, emphasised by dark colours and material tones.

Moving onward, the spaces unfold in a sequence from dark to light – intensifying the bright, voluminous feel of the addition.In the centre, the dining room is marked by a change in floor treatment: narrow timber planks with aligned seams transition between the smooth concrete of the kitchen and the roughly-grained concrete of the extension.

Step House
Step House

Here, where faceted glass meets stepped brick, the geometry of the concept is accentuated.

A light-well ensures the full depth of the plan is bright, and provides a moment of pause within the interior.

Working closely with the structural engineers, an entirely column-free space has been created in the extension, using laser-cut, double-direction stepped beams to support the first floor.

Step House
Step House
Step House

The structure of the addition is integrated into the design from the start – working hand-in-hand to create the appearance of a first floor that is sunken into the extension.

The brick, left exposed inside and out, is celebrated in a way that respects the existing house while clearly departing from the traditional language of the historic architecture.

Bureau De change
T +44 20 34870644
Bureau De change
6 Hoxton Square, London N1 6NU, United Kingdom