Chelsea | SW3

Bright and modern kitchen with white cabinets, a central beige island, a skylight, and a glass door leading to a small outdoor lightwell with potted plants.

This project involved the enlargement, reconfiguration and refurbishment of a 4-storey mid-Victorian terraced house located within the Chelsea Conservation Area. The brief was to enlarge the existing lower ground floor - lowering the rear half of this floor to gain a good 2.7metres head height and extending it below the rear garden, in order to rationalise the internal layout and create a larger, more useable and inviting kitchen/dining area with access to a light well. The existing front, upper level of the lower ground floor was designed to be an informal living area, connected to the kitchen/dining area on the half-landing of the staircase down to the kitchen and visually through a large dividing crittall screen. Achieving good levels of natural light in the new kitchen/dining space and also better connecting the lower ground level to the rest of the house was a key priority. We and the clients were very keen that this floor didn’t feel like the dark/enclosed basement that existed - given that it would be the heart of the home and a lot of time would be spent there.

We designed a feature staircase from the ground floor hallway down into the kitchen/dining area that wraps around the perimeter of the space, open to it, providing a view of the lower ground as it descends. The half-landing of the dog-legged staircase provides access to the front living area. A double-height volume is created around the staircase and extends over the dining area, which provides a sense of space, drama and omits the feeling that you are below ground. Visible from the staircase, a high-level, large horizontal window within this double-height space combines with a walk-on roof light in the rear garden above to provide good levels of natural light into the kitchen and dining space. This is also aided further by a small light well in the left hand corner of the kitchen. The light well creates a focal point within the space and was designed with recesses in the wall to house plants and herbs - becoming an extension of the internal kitchen area with a kitchen garden feel. We designed the kitchen in close coordination with our clients in order to create a fully bespoke layout that suited their needs and worked successfully in the space - providing lots of much needed storage space.

Interior view of a modern home showing new staircase, dining table, and kitchen with white cabinetry and black-framed windows.

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