THE WHITE HOUSE
OB Architecture
Our clients, Dan and Rachel had a modest
but perfectly adequate family home situated
in a pleasant part of the historic city of
Winchester. However, with a growing family
and an itching desire to make something
more of the house, they approached us in
2013 to see what could be done.
Whilst the upstairs was attractive and
functional and gave them all the spaces
they needed, the ground floor was dark and
cramped, with a convoluted layout and small
fragmented rooms that left no meaningful
space for the family to gather.
The connection with the garden, as
with so many properties of the era, was
compromised by small windows and a lack
of a direct access from the kitchen.
Perhaps most significantly, the house was
architecturally of little value; the plain, dated
facades didn’t reflect the lovely setting
looking out over the South Downs.
So how can a modest 1970s house be
transformed into a bright contemporary
family home on a relatively limited budget?
56 - www.refurbandrestore.co.uk
We realised at an early stage that the
upstairs worked very well for Dan and Rachel
and that it was more prudent to invest their
money developing the living spaces at
ground floor where they tend to spend most
of their time together as a family.
We started by looking at how we could open
out the rooms in a cost-effective way without
compromising the structural integrity of the
house and blowing the budget on a complex
steel frame arrangement.
The first move was to extend the entrance
hall out at the front to create a welcoming
new double height glazed area. The stairs
were re-orientated and the hallway widened
to create a more generous entrance to the
house.
The existing reception room worked well for
the family but felt slightly disconnected from
the rest of the house, so a large new opening
was created between the room and the
hallway, and glazed sliding door was inserted
to maintain the visual connection.