Harpenden House
The complete renovation of a detached Edwardian house in the Harpenden Conservation Area creates a flexible family home with space to grow.
The addition of three angled volumes with a continuous undulating sawtooth roof offers distinct but flowing spaces.
Expansive sloped rooflights illuminate the interiors with a calm, even quality which recreates the essence of Nordic light, diffused by the roof shape and softened by lime plaster walls.
A dramatic double-height space brings light into the heart of the house and establishes connections up and through the building. The mezzanine’s full height shelves make it a bright reading room
The staggered cluster of complementary volumes breaks down the scale of the wide house. While they read almost as separate from the outside, there is a sense of continuous flow inside, with mono-pitched roofs orientated to the path of the sun.
Home to a family with two young children, the brief included creating new kitchen, playroom, dining and living spaces, adding space for guests, and making room for hobbies.
The new spaces are interconnected but can also be separated when needed, using sliding doors as partitions to create different amounts of openness. Each has its own connection to the garden, including a sheltered patio where two rooms with large sliding glass doors meet.
Photography: Taran Wilkhu
