46 Gamekeepers Road

As a family grows, its options can be to live in cramped conditions, relocate or to extend the home. City Architecture Office met this challenge to find extra living, sleeping and family space by altering and extending the existing layout to create a comfortable family home.

This house dates from the 1940s and the traditional stone cladding conceals a concrete frame system. It lacked an obvious entrance, the internal circulation was awkward and it had a large extension at the rear. These disparate parts were unified with a simple solution that resolved internal layout by adding a striking extension at the side.

A new extension with a curved brick gable provides three new rooms over 2 levels. The entrance is relocated to the front beneath the canopy of a south facing balcony accessed from a new en-suite bedroom with a bow wall. The entrance is formed within a former window opening. The door and adjacent timber screens are clad in Western Red Cedar.

Internally, the existing living room is cleverly divided from the new hallway by glass screens that can fold open to enlarge the reception room in the centre of the property. There is a new study and a kids room off the kitchen at ground floor, with direct access to the enclosed garden.

Subtle landscaping enhances the new entrance, garden and parking. This included path forming, widening the driveway, a new lawn and feature lighting. A carved stone font was retained as a folly.

The project was completed in time for the arrival of the latest addition to the family. It is an innovative example of how to achieve a flexible suburban family home without the need to relocate.