Benjamin Hale Architects extends light-starved Victorian home upwards and outwards

Welsh practice Benjamin Hale Architects has added two modern extensions – one made from pale brick, the other from black zinc – to a Victorian-era home in south London. The end-of-terrace house is located in Dulwich and previously featured a dim and dated interior. Working alongside local interior designer Hamish Vincent, Benjamin Hale Architects set out to bring natural light back into the plan and "engender a sense of calm and domesticity" throughout. The practice started by adding a pale, clay-brick volume to the rear of the property, incorporating a neglected alley that sat to the side of the plot. "An underused side return or side alley is a traditional feature of many traditional Victorian terrace homes," the practice's eponymous founder told Dezeen. "However, being on an edge plot offered a considerable advantage in this instance." Inside, the extension contains a modern kitchen complete with oak cabinetry, pale terrazzo flooring and a central counter with a built-in cooker, where inhabitants can prepare meals. A breakfast nook was set up towards the back of the room, its cushioned seating bench set against a fluted tile wall. Sunlight streams into the room from a skylight created in the room's upper corner and the Crittall doors that open onto the garden. A new doorway links the extension to the formal dining room, where Vincent introduced a bold medley of furnishings. This includes a stripy timber table and a chandelier composed of a cluster of spherical bulbs. As many of the home's original period features had been removed over time, Benjamin Hale Architects reinstated a grand marble fireplace in the room. Ornate coving was also fitted around the ceiling of the adjacent sitting area, which hosts a sofa and sculptural armchairs upholstered in creamy boucle. An oak staircase with a slatted balustrade leads up to a zinc-clad dormer roof extension, added at the request of the owners who wanted the home to have extra sleeping quarters. The space – which now serves as the primary bedroom – has wooden panels running around its perimeter and a large picture window that offers far-reaching views over the streets of Dulwich. Ensuite facilities were integrated into the room alongside a freestanding bath, snugly positioned beneath the roof's eaves and illuminated by a small skylight. The project also saw Vincent infuse the property's existing bedrooms with warmth and tactility, adding weathered stone pots, lantern-style lights, tobacco-hued surfaces and more. This isn't the only Dulwich residence to recently undergo a revamp; a few months ago architecture studio Proctor & Shaw built a concrete extension for a terrace home in the affluent neighbourhood, better connecting it to its 57-metre-long back garden.