Coffey Architects have completed the Modern Side Extension, an uncompromisingly modern solution to the expansion of a terraced home.

The clients of the Modern Side Extension found themselves in a position common to countless thousands of other people in the UK, which makes the house we designed for them of generic value to others. Living in a three-bedroom terraced house, they wanted

to expand and remodel for open-plan living on a limited budget. They especially wanted to avoid the cold and clinical aesthetic of many contemporary homes.

The project is constructed from brick, glass and aluminium bi-fold sliding doors. The modernity is borne of a seemingly effortless structural solution that allows the existing volume of the house to slip past a brick pier, a continuation of the party wall.

The composition is a subtle game of solid and void, breaking down the threshold between new and old, inside and outside. 

The resulting typological solution can be replicated on adjacent properties, the pitched roof maintaining good relations with the neighbours.

The project shows that one of the smallest and most feared of residential projects can become transformative architecture.

Conservation area-friendly brick, glass and bi-fold doors unite in a complex three-dimensional composition. Respectful to neighbours, the Modern Side Extension shows that the smallest architectural projects can be transformational.

Inside, the materials – polished concrete floors, brick, European oak and white sprayed MDF joinery – are warm and unostentatious. Bi-fold doors and frameless rooflight glazing dissolves the distinction between inside and out and allow light deep into the property.

Modern Side Extension was awarded a RIBA London Award 2016.