A room for all seasons Architect advice on replacing a conservatory with a garden room
Replacing a conservatory with a room that connects seamlessly to the house would give one couple a stylish living space for use all year round
Few of us manage to buy our perfect home – which is handy, because many of us also like to modernise, extend and redecorate to suit our particular tastes and needs. This was the challenge facing Margret and Jim Geraghty.
The couple had bought a fourbedroom detached house near Minchinhampton in the Cotswolds. Built around 1910, it was extended sympathetically in 2005 and again recently. The second renovation – a kitchen extension and uPVC conservatory with a stonecladdingeffect plinth – was less successful and detracts from the rest of the house, which features elements of Voysey’s Arts & Crafts style.
THE SET-UP
Margret and Jim would like to replace the conservatory with something that has a solid roof, because it’s currently too hot in summer and too cold in winter.
It’s a problem that afflicts many houses in Britain. For decades conservatories have been tacked onto houses almost as a status symbol, or with romantic thoughts of sitting there, enjoying the sunlight and connecting with the garden.
Sadly, the reality is less idyllic; come winter, unless you specify argon-filled triple glazing, you’ll be hit with whopping heating bills. Now the trend for this type of conservatory is ebbing – orangeries and garden rooms are more the thing. Generally, these structures have less glazing and more insulated solid walls.
The Geraghtys want the conservatory replacement to flow seamlessly from the kitchen – which they intend to replace – so that the room becomes suitable for year-round living. A sitting area or dining space would benefit from pretty views out across the garden to distant trees and fields. The couple are also keen to include a fire in the scheme.
KEY TIPS
Bifold, or folding/sliding door systems do transform a space – bringing in more daylight, increasing views and opening wide to give that indoor/outdoor living feeling. However, think twice before installing them in every property type, or at least use restraint and limit them to key areas.
For period properties, consider a nicely proportioned pair of French doors – hang a painting on the wall in between. For more daylight, consider rooflights. Double- or tripleaspect rooms are more characterful than a room with a huge bifold system in the far wall, and will bring sun into a home at different times during the day.
For contemporary houses, think about a conventional sliding door system. These
‘patio doors’ have evolved, and expensive, highly engineered systems, such as the Swiss-made Sky-Frame sliding windows, offer slender mullions and much wider panels of glass.
The net effect is almost unhindered views.
THE SOLUTION The first step is to open up and connect the existing kitchen space with the conservatory replacement; in this case a central pillar is needed to carry the walls above. The kitchen is too wide to work well with units on both sides of the walls, which means an island is required.
This is formed around the pillar, ensuring that it’s not in the circulation space. The sloping ceiling and rooflights in the existing kitchen remain intact.
The structure that would replace the conservatory is a bold mix of period and contemporary styles. It’s characterised by a vaulted roof inspired by Arts & Crafts architects, who were inventive with roof shapes, making them highly pitched, often sculptural, with soaring chimneys. Externally, it uses materials to match or blend with the existing ones. But it’s more dramatic on the inside, where the four walls crease into sloping soffits, rising three metres to a large central square rooflight.
Effectively, this is a doubleheight space, but the vaulted ceiling narrows it down so it feels homely rather than cavernous. Crossing the vaulted space is a structural tie beam from which a central pendant light can be hung. The sense of cosiness is helped by a traditional open fireplace in the rear wall.
Either side of the chimney breast are two window seats, which offer somewhere to sit and enjoy the countryside views. The seats are formed within an extra-deep wall recess with chamfered reveals, hinting at the solidity of a 100-year-old house. A French door to the side gives access to the rear patio area and a new slot window in the kitchen offers views from the sink.
A quirk of the roof is that the rear wall is a gable externally, allowing the chimney breast to rise vertically, but slopes internally. This creates a void between the two – a small, not very accessible loft. It would be feasible to create a dovecote or bat house within this by leaving out some bricks on the gable end. Thomas Heatherwick, the man behind the Olympic cauldron, was delighted when birds nested in his spiky UK pavilion at Expo 2010, and if it’s good enough for him…