Hipped House

Oliver Leech Architects has given a detached, inter-war house in the Surrey hills a new sense of identity through the addition of a hipped-roof, two-storey rear extension that reveals a depth of intricate detailing throughout.

The clients, a couple with two young children, briefed the architects to redesign the home to include more spacious and open living areas in which they could spend quality time together. Despite contending with strict planning conditions at their Epsom estate, the clients asked Oliver to create a new modern identity to visually set the house apart from its neighbouring rear additions. The new extension accommodates a new master bedroom and bathroom suite on the first floor featuring vaulted ceilings and garden views. On the ground floor, the house has been opened up to allow for a large, flexible kitchen and living space with views and connections to the internal courtyard and large rear garden. The form of the extension was defined by the existing house. Oliver designed a hipped form that mimics the original roofscape, featuring a large dormer window that punctuates the roofline. Planning restrictions meant that the external material palette was limited to what was previously on site, including dark clay tiles, timber, and render. The architects worked within these constraints to design a contemporary palette that gives the house it’s own sense of identity, using a handmade, grey Danish clay tile that is visually very different to the neighbouring red tiles more commonly seen on traditional Surrey roofscapes.