Kensington Project

by Virginia Kerridge Architect

This house explores the idea of “grafting”, a concept often used in Japanese gardens. Grafting is where a branch or plant is cut and a piece of another plant is added and held in place. The idea is to encourage the tissues of one plant to fuse with those of another. Given that the tennis court area staying was part of the brief, the available space for the addition was between the existing part of the house and the pool. Because the new addition is not a distinctly new building, the idea came about of grafting onto the existing. The side view of the house demonstrates how the addition is grafted onto the existing. A small parasol zinc roof has been carefully inscribed to allow for head height from the existing (very low) verandah to the new living area The gestural roof over the living area looks up towards the sky and seems to grow out of the existing building. Three new dormer windows in the children’s level on the upper floor allow light and air and a view across the adjacent parkland area.