Ranelagh Room
A New Extension Connects House and Garden
The family who owns this beautiful period house on Sandford Road, on the leafy fringes of Ranelagh, required a more open relationship with the spectacular south-westerly 100-m long garden from the kitchen and living areas. Previously, a small deck was accessed from the kitchen window and from there a few steps led down to the garden. This was obviously not sufficient to allow a comfortable use and enjoyment of the garden and benefit from both the splendid views that grace the rear of the house.
The owners commissioned Anello Architects to modernise and extend the kitchen in order to make the all-important connection to the outside via a new and wider suspended deck. "Our main idea was to enlarge the deck and transform it into a new dining room directly linked with the kitchen. At the same time, we thought it useful to leave some fully accessible external decked space", explains architect Manfredi Anello. To accomplish this, the architects sought maximum transparency and possibility of interaction with the outside spaces, and this was achieved it by using folding-sliding doors. By positioning the main roof support post outside the deck area, it became possible for the folding-sliding doors to peel away from the corner of the new room. On a sunny day, the windows can be fully opened and the internal space becomes one with the outside ship-decked areas. When the windows are closed, two balconies around the extension seem to converge into a metal staircase discreetly leading down to the garden.
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