Two and a Half Storey House

Two and a Half Storey House works around a local planning restriction by building a half-height roof extension. The clients owned a two-storey, two-bedroom property on a central London housing estate and, with a second baby on the way, needed more space. Priced out of three-bedroom homes in the area, they looked at what their existing house could give them.

Unlike other houses on the estate, this property could not secure planning permission for a single-storey loft extension. Two refusals followed, because nothing could be built higher than the existing roof's highest point, and this house has a lower roof profile than its neighbours.

Bradley Van Der Straeten approached the design as an interlocking jigsaw. With the half-height of the loft fixed, the scheme creates two interlocking floor levels within the space of one and a half storeys. Less footprint, but more volume and an extra bedroom. The design hinges on using the ceiling of the bedroom below as the bed platform for the bedroom above, which stays spacious and bright through carefully placed roof windows. Building the bed frame into the fabric of the house freed up space for generous communal circulation.

Plywood unifies the new and old spaces and conceals a great deal of clever storage. Millimetre-level detailing maximised ceiling heights, including exposing structural timbers in the ceilings and using vacuum insulation panels to keep floor and roof build-ups thin. The split levels let the parents see their eldest son in his loft bedroom from the first-floor hallway window.

Architecture by Bradley Van Der Straeten, led by George Bradley and Ewald Van Der Straeten. Photography by French + Tye.