The Consultation Process: Let’s talk, let’s draw!
Our 4 hour consultation is a fantastic way to kickstart your project. We visit you in your home and develop sketches with you at your kitchen table.
Within a fixed time frame, we talk with you and then then get drawing, leaving you with some key sketches summarising our discussions.
We view the consultation as a time for stretching the imagination whilst recognising the features you value most, aiming to understand how you live now and your vision for the future.
We are fascinated by the patterns in our daily lives and how a space can best facilitate the activities we love to do most….
A number of themes emerged from our most recent design consultations:
1. The layout we know and love
It’s natural to become fond of familiar layouts where we carry out daily rituals in a certain way. Being highly adaptable and enjoying routine, it’s not uncommon to make spaces work for us even when they don’t quite fit the bill.
Listening to how you envisage using your space and in interpreting these ideas into layouts may challenge the way you have been used to inhabiting your home. We might suggest alternative room layouts and functions which stretch the imagination… and possibility.
2. Links: The functional and the beautiful
Creating efficient circulation space between a main house and a proposed extension can be a challenging prospect. With additions to an existing form, it is easy for old and new spaces to feel disconnected by dark internal corridors.
An elegant glazed link can offer a light connection between spaces in the existing and proposed, as well helping to reduce the visual impact on sensitive areas of the building. By allowing a little extra width on the link, a simple passageway can house that much needed wall of storage or a comfy chair to enjoy the view.
3. Dedicated space for a hobby
Fast paced lifestyles often don’t leave much time for enjoying leisurely pursuits, but putting yourself first every now and again certainly isn’t a bad thing. Why not create a space with a distinctive ambience for housing that grand piano – tinkling the ivories whilst enjoying views out to the garden?
By varying the window and door design, incorporating such a space into a wider open plan extension is one approach. A horizontal slot window set at optimal piano playing eyeline would focus the view outside, whilst recessed ceiling down lighters can enhance the showtime mood!
Although flexibility is an important part of modern life, a special feature like the slot window designed around a much loved activity can really add that distinctive personal touch.
4. To blend or not to blend
When extending from an existing building, theres always the question of style. Instinctively we appreciate designs which are of their time rather than those which try to imitate the historic so finding the right balance of form and materials is key.
A design which demonstrates clear yet sensitive delineation between old and new can be something really special.
5. The heart of the home
There’s usually one existing space in the heart of the home with a valued character – often cosy ‘fireplace’ rooms in the centre of the plan. Preserving these spaces while relocating the more manic daily happenings to the flexible extension is a natural approach.
Identifying those cherished spaces is just as important as working out new layouts. A considerate design can enhance and integrate these areas with new parts of the building.