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.

This is the only home within the Dulwich Estate which has successfully added an additional bedroom because of its exceptional innovation in design. The have low pitched roofs making loft conversions impossible and are sited in a dense woodland making extensions difficult, especially since services run only towards the front of the homes. The originality of this design is that the studio focused on creating an ecologically sensitive extension with little servicing requirements towards the rear, and allocating a new bedroom on the ground floor. It creates a high-quality family space where the kitchen opens up into the woodlands and the new bedroom sits quietly in the front of the house. Environmental considerations are at the forefront of the design, but go beyond the demolition, construction, waste and specification of the extension. Instead, the environmental consideration is strongest in the ecology and protection of local mature woodland biodiversity through the lighting design, masonry products, soil preservation and wildflower meadow specific in the design.

“Our quality of life as a family has improved because we spend so much time together cooking in the kitchen and BBQing outside....and with this new design we are much more connected to the woodlands. I like being able to view the birds using my binoculars whist I am cooking in the kitchen- what a luxury to have this diversity in the heart of London!”

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