Waste Not, Want Not House
Whittaker Parsons
Redbridge, 2025
The American Architect Buckminster Fuller famously asked 'how much does your building weigh'. We are now at a time when we should ask how much your building saves. Waste Not, Want Not House is predominately built from recycled products, saving eight tonnes of construction waste from landfills, using half the embodied carbon of a typical residential extension. This pink-rendered single-storey extension to a semi-detached interwar property in an East London suburb reconnects its owners with their garden. Whittaker Parsons architects designed an L-shaped family room to suit the homeowner's lifestyle and existing furniture, creating a beautiful, characterful home.
“We couldn’t host more than four adults in any room downstairs, so we were often separated as a family. Now, with our new extension, it’s wonderful to cook, spend time with our child, and all be together. We love the exposed brick wall, made from recycled material, with built-in shelves for art and flowers. Whittaker Parsons’ advice to stack real bricks instead of using a brick effect was spot on. The red Mediterranean-style patio with its vibrant colour, interesting shape, and fire pit is another favourite.”
