A-Squared Architects, Norwich, Norfolk

TYPE: Extensions and alterations

Address: Surlingham

Built in the 1980's, Fetherston House is located in Surlingham, Norfolk and sits on an attractive, sloping site. The brief was to create a generous open plan kitchen and dining room that would link the internal spaces to the garden. The extension is very simple; a cube with muted tones, intentionally different from the original house. Internally, it is a lofty and bright space with a raised ceiling height and two glazed screens, one of which opens onto a decked terrace, designed as a plinth to the building which extends into the garden. A timber frame structure is finished externally with a mineral silicate render, the timber frame is in turn tied back to a simple steel frame which supports the existing roof structure and the new warm roof of the extension. The glazed screens are a generous 2.86m high allowing views out over the sloping garden, (which rises to a steeply banked ditch forming the boundary with the fields), to the sky and tree canopies beyond. Coupled with the raised ceiling height the space feels heightened and provides a contrast to the lower ceiling of the original kitchen. A slot rooflight introduces daylight to the run of kitchen units and again gives a view of the sky and the trees. One of the glazed screens is fixed, the other incorporates door panels that fold and slide to one side providing a full-width opening, with a level threshold, to the 'plinth' deck