‘It’s all about the brick’ is how SPA future-proofed a garden apartment in a large Italianate semi-detached villa in North London. The clients wanted an enduring space to suit their growing family as their home forever. The answer was two-pronged: to remodel and retrofit the original and to expand into the mature garden, adding a true indoor-outdoor living. Central to remodeling was providing a flexible space for extended family visits and creating generous amounts of dedicated storage. Although the living space still occupies the same square meterage, resourceful design put away any potential clutter and all building services.

Dedicated storage rooms, located deep in the lightless corners of the flat, provide ample space for services, dry food and bulky items of storage. In the open-plan living areas, subtle spatial differences in the floor, wall and ceiling treatments create varied spaces that allow family members to pursue a range of activities within a sociable distance. A light-filled study-off-the-kitchen becomes an optional, sound-separated bedroom, as sliding doors spring out of a hidden wall-pockets and a built-in fold-down bed appears from a customized wall of joinery.