Private Residential | Contemporary Extension | Wargrave, Berkshire

How to Solve the Problem of a House's Orientation

Like many homes of its era, this traditional red brick and render property on Wargrave's High Street had grown up with its best rooms facing the wrong way. The kitchen, family spaces and garage all fronted the busy road, while the garden, the part of the plot with the most to offer, was left as an afterthought behind boxy, disconnected rooms. For a family wanting to actually live in and enjoy their outdoor space, the layout simply worked against them.

Designing a Contemporary Extension That Wokingham Borough Council Backed

Rather than patch over the problem, Simon Mack Architecture proposed an extension that turned the house around. Wokingham's planning department responded well to the design, agreeing that it improved on the original building, and permission was granted for a contemporary addition that reorientates the home towards the garden. Large expanses of glazing now open the kitchen, family room and dance studio onto the outdoor space, glazing that would have sat awkwardly within the original brick elevation, but which reads naturally against the new cladding.
The result is a considered juxtaposition of old and new: the traditional red brick and render frontage remains legible from the street, while the side and rear present a confident, contemporary counterpoint in timber and white brick.

Materials Chosen to Mark the Shift

A silvery-toned larch cladding, finished with a gentle stain, wraps the new extension, weathering gracefully over time and signaling a clear departure from the original fabric. Alongside it, a crisp white brick treats the garage and side elevation, creating depth and contrast where the new meets the old.

A Family Home That Finally Faces the Right Way

The transformation goes beyond square footage. With the new kitchen, family room and dance studio all opening onto the garden, the family use their outdoor space properly for the first time, and the original rooms, no longer hemmed in by poor orientation, feel lighter and happier too. The home has become somewhere the family genuinely wants to entertain, a shift confirmed by the next step in its evolution: a swimming pool, installed in the garden the extension finally made worth using.