The kitchen and dining space opens out to the garden, even though they are a storey lower than street level. «It’s a way of ensuring that whilst we’re extending the building we’re actually bringing light right down where otherwise it might end up being quite dark.»
The bronze detailing extends to a staircase that joins the kitchen and dining space with a gallery landing. Related story: «It’s about trying to grab light and views where you can» — Riches and Mikhail on Church WalkHis solution, completed last year, involved adding a larch-framed glass box that stretches along the rear elevation to create a sunken kitchen and dining room that opens out to the garden. Read more about the project in the original story on Dezeen. Mikhail, one of the two founders of London firm Mikhail Riches, was invited to rework the home of Lisa and Ash – a couple living in the city’s east end. Skylights were added, ensuring that new parts of the building receive plenty of natural light. «There are no welds or anything, it’s just really finely laser cut,» he says. Mikhail sourced the bronze from a company that makes ship propellers. Movie is by Living Projects. «What I was thinking when I was walking around initially was we’ve got to do something that ticks the boxes of a great family home with a connection to the garden,» he explains in the film, «but at the same time to give back the house its original dignity.»
The architect used a simple palette of colours and materials throughout the interior – white brick, stone, Siberian larch and bronze – to tie together old and new elements. «With the brickwork walls, which wrap right from the inside to the outside, the garden really feels like it is just an extension of this kitchen dining room,» continues Mikhail.
