Triangle House, Epsom

Artefact was tasked to extend a compact 1950s suburban house in Epsom, Surrey, to accommodate large family gatherings, and consider the future needs of their client couple into older age, in terms of access, running costs and garden pleasures. They have achieved far more than simply fulfilling the brief.  

The simple diagram of the new extension wing transforms the house, but it is the playful and inventive use of materials, colour and form that propel it into something exceptional.  

The colour palette of blue, yellow and pale terracotta was inspired by a painting belonging to the owners and informed the project as it evolved. The use of the exposed, beautifully laid, grey hollow blockwork in the walls of the new space met the budget constraints and minimised embodied carbon. 

It also serves as a calm backdrop – uncluttered by artworks – for pink floor tiles, tutti-frutti terrazzo kitchen counter and acid lemon ceiling joists which sail beneath a round rooflight. The relocated kitchen, dining and snug space opens onto a wide terrace that bathes in afternoon sunshine, tall glazed doors running along its length.  

Blue-pigmented blockwork – a rejected job lot bought cheap – is cut on the diagonal to create triangular piers that frame the doors and the terracotta tiled panels above them and support custom-cast concrete copings. The blockwork walls that enclose the new wing are externally insulated and finished in a natural-coloured render. 

A new two-storey section of the wing that faces the cul-de-sac provides a surprising double-height entrance space. The triangular frame of its idiosyncratic porch repeats the theme of Triangle House, on its triangular-shaped plot and lined with triangular-embossed wallpaper. Internally another game is made of the vertical row of projecting header bricks that once tied the wall of the old garage into the flank of the house, now brought together in a rich green-blue paint.  

The architects’ creativity, commitment and good humour have contributed to their delivery of a low-cost, low-energy, high-impact and highly characterful and alternative home that has been beautifully built by a dedicated contractor.