The Cottage in the Surrey North Downs, extended with a sculpted brick form grounded in the surrounding chalk landscape.

Modern house with large window showing interior with family members, including children and an adult, inside a kitchen. The exterior features a white brick wall, garden with shrubs, and pathway.

Modern white house with large glass windows, interior lighting visible, surrounded by green lawn and bushes, with a traditional house with shingles and leafless trees in the background.

Modern house with large windows, lit from inside, situated in a landscaped yard with trees and mountains in the background during dusk.

On a site of outstanding natural beauty in the Surrey North Downs, The Cottage extension takes inspiration from the chalk ridges of the surrounding landscape. A sculpted brick form unifies the fragmented existing house, with deeply revealed windows framing key views.

Inside, an open-plan kitchen, dining and family space uses a warm palette of natural, exposed materials, creating a considered connection to its setting.

Inside view of a modern furniture shop with people sitting and standing at a counter, seen through a large window with brick walls outside and warm interior lighting.

A modern single-story house with large glass windows emitting warm light, situated on a green lawn with landscaping, in a neighborhood with older houses and tall trees, during dusk or early evening.

Interior of a modern living room with large glass sliding doors leading to a backyard with green grass and trees, furnished with two gray armchairs, a wooden chair, a patterned rug, and a fireplace with decorative objects.

The dominant material is a textured, sandblasted brick in a chalk tone, grounding the extension in its setting while echoing the region's geology and history, from wartime tunnels carved into the chalk to its enduring presence across the Downs. The choice of material ties the extension as much to the landscape's past as to its physical form.

A polished concrete terrace anchors the extension into the slope, with integrated planters mediating the threshold between house and landscape, completing a design that reads as much of the ground as it does of the house.

Interior of a house with large floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a garden with trees and plants, showing a brick wall, wooden ceiling, and a door with a wooden frame leading outside.

Modern kitchen with white cabinets, a kitchen island with a sink, large windows showing a green outdoor landscape, wooden ceiling beams, and a dining table with wooden chairs.

Modern white brick house with large window and wooden panel, small tree in front, and a cat sitting on concrete patio.

Traditional brick house with brown shingles and white-framed windows, alongside a modern white extension with large glass windows, surrounded by a well-maintained lawn and flowering bushes.

Living room with wooden ceiling, large windows, white brick wall, fireplace with logs, modern furniture including armchairs, sofa, and a wooden chair, a black and white patterned rug, and decorative items, with a view of greenery outside.

Awards
Shortlisted, AJ Small Projects 2016

Completed 2015
Photography by Daniel Stier

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