Kitchen in the Woods
A Small Studio
Southwark, 2023
Urban Oasis Prize
This home extension is an ecologically sympathetic design. The modernist house sits in a small oasis of protected woodland within the Dulwich Estate which is a conservation area in south London. The family wanted to add a fourth bedroom to the house but couldn’t extend upward due to the constraints of its conservation area. To carve an extra bedroom, the studio relocated the kitchen, where the family spent most of their time, from an enclosed room at the front overlooking the street to embrace the woods at the rear. The studio then converted the old kitchen into an new en-suite bedroom. It was paramount for the extension to have a light ecological impact that would avoid disturbing the abundant wildlife in the garden—including foxes, squirrels, birds, and bats.