Architectural Design & Interior Architecture | 3D Visualisation | Architectural Support
Merlin Way
Concept design · Layout optimisation · Planning application · Design coordination
The brief
This family already had teenage children at home, and the house needed to work harder for them. They wanted comfortable bedrooms, spaces where everyone could be together or apart, and a home that would still make sense when the children head off to university. So the focus was practical: get the most from every square metre, while keeping a home that reflects how they live.
Existing
Rethinking the layout
Looking at the plans, the biggest change is in how the house is organised. In the original layout, the kitchen was a closed room in the middle of the house and the garage sat unused at the side. We moved the kitchen into the garage area and opened it up, with an island, dining space and living room flowing together as one family hub. A new lounge was added beside it, giving the teenagers a place to relax or entertain friends, and later a quieter retreat for the parents.
Where the old kitchen was, a utility room and WC now sit by the entrance hall, keeping everyday clutter, laundry and muddy shoes out of the main living areas. The gable-end extension gives the house a strong new feature.
A home that can change
The way people live changes, so the plan was designed to adapt. The office is its own room rather than a corner of another space, which means it can later become a guest room, a hobby room or another bedroom without any building work. The two additional bedrooms give the couple space for visitors now and flexibility for whatever comes next. It’s the kind of thinking that’s easy to overlook at the start and costly to fix later.
Coordinating the experts
Changes like these only work if the building can support them. Opening up the kitchen and living areas, extending the living room with a new cavity wall and foundations, and adding rooflights to bring daylight deeper into the plan all needed the input of a structural engineer. We designed the layout and coordinated with the engineer from the start, so structural requirements were built into the plan. We also worked with building regulations specialists, who took our design through technical design and compliance. This is why bringing in the right people early matters: the design stays realistic from concept to construction.
Beyond the walls
The improvements continue outside. We reworked the parking arrangement with a permeable parking area and a low-level retaining wall, and designed hard landscaping to connect the extended living space with the garden. New powder-coated aluminium windows and carefully matched cladding on the infill elements keep the house looking consistent and tidy. We prepared and submitted the planning application and stayed involved through to technical design.
The result is a home that fits the way the couple live and work today, and has the flexibility to change with them.
The result is a home that fits how the couple live and work today, with a dedicated office, a proper master suite and an open, sociable heart to the house. Just as importantly, it’s a layout that can grow and adapt with them, so the house keeps working well whatever the next chapter brings.