Co-Urbanism supported a befriended family to develop a design scheme for their house’s conversion and extension. Starting with a basic scheme produced by a contractor, our design proposal aimed at staying within the contractor’s budget and construction framework, but to create a spatial configuration that would more clearly reflect the family’s needs and allow a more open and flexible arrangement within the house’s compact layout.

The family’s main wish to have a large eat-in kitchen resulted in placing the kitchen at the center of the house. Making the kitchen the main point of reference towards the East, West, and West sides of the house, all bedrooms and bathrooms are compactly arranged at the back side of the kitchen facing north. The placement of the kitchen structures the remaining living areas into open, yet clearly defined zones that can be used as living, dining, or office areas. A deck attached to the living area’s south side mirrors its size and transforms it into a double-sized indoor/outdoor living room when the large sliding doors are opened. The main windows and view axes also hinge around the central kitchen, allowing views through the whole house and across all living areas to the outside garden.

Although not clear if achievable within the given constraints, we encouraged the use and reuse of salvaged lumber resulting from deconstruction for building the deck, window shutters, built-in furniture, cabinets, etc. as well as advised to implement more sustainable heating and cooling systems with solar panels and a heat pump.