Datum House Shortlisted for Don’t Move Improve 2025!
Datum House has been recognised this year as one of London’s best renovations / extensions by Don’t Move, Improve!
Don’t Move, Improve! is run by New London Architecture (NLA), encouraging great design in everyday life, celebrating the newest and most innovative home improvement projects from across London.
This is such an important competition for young(ish) architects in London. It really helps us share our work on a global stage as well as exposing our work to new potential clients,
As stated in our ‘’WE DO EXTENSIONS’’ essay, the importance of the London extension / renovation is where we learn our trade. An extension is such a great project type as it’s a mini-building with foundations, cavity walls and rooves, it has all the details you need to perfect before setting your sights on anything larger or more ambitious….
How did this project come about?
DHaus have quite a lot of built work in and around North London, and in particular the Dartmouth Park Conservation Area. We actually did the house next door for the Client X’s son who built the Arches.
When we found it:
Mid-way through construction:
Often projects happen organically, one job leads to the next… Word of mouth and a real portfolio go a long way for new client’s to have confidence in us.
When our clients for Datum House approached us, they had a clear brief of what they wanted to achieve for their home. They needed an additional bedroom for their growing family, but they also wanted to transform the lower ground floor of their maisonette —a space that was dark and disconnected from the outside. The challenge was to achieve all of this while working within the constraints of a historic Victorian building.
The concept for our scheme centred around three key elements that we tested:
1- An internal re-configuration of the existing lower ground floor, that allowed us to create a bedroom at the front of the property and re-orientate the living spaces onto the secluded garden,
2 – A full width skylight that spanned the entire width of the property and;
3 – A monolithic sculptural wall that served both as a threshold between inside and out but also as a multifunctional piece of furniture.
For a while now we have been interested in experimenting with what a façade is and how a simple wall can become a dynamic building element when it serves more than one purpose.
By separating this wall from the main structure with a wall-to-wall skylight we were able to craft an optical illusion that makes one feel as though you’re looking at a piece of sculpture whilst looking to the outside. The design not only addressed the clients’ desire for more light but also created a sense of openness that’s rarely found in lower ground floor spaces.
Externally the rear facade, with its monolithic stack bonded brickwork, appears as a standalone architectural element that adds an interesting quality to the design. Its deep reveals serving a practical purpose of concealing sliding pocket doors and a concealed curtain track.
Internally we continued this theme of connection to the outside with a simple material palette of concrete, clay, and timber. These materials not only define each space clearly but also maintain a cohesive aesthetic throughout the home.
A datum line, expressed in both concrete and timber, ties the interior spaces together and extends out into the sunken courtyard, highlighting the depth one stands below the raised garden level and reinforcing the sense of continuity that was central to the clients’ brief.
