Garden

A thatched cottage almost ‘untouched’ by a futuristic additionThe ‘glass box’ extension on this Grade II listed thatched cottage in Cheshire takes the idea of respecting the original building to a new level. While an ultra-contemporary glazed, angular add-on to such an old, rustic building may not be to everyone’s taste, what’s lovely about this design is the way the original house keeps its integrity. The emphasis on glass and lack of unnecessary bulky framing in the design of the extension means the original front of the house is still very much visible.“It doesn’t interfere with the original property too much,” says Alex Saint of bulthaup by Kitchen Architecture, who designed the extension, “and we didn’t have to alter the cottage a great deal to install it.” Structurally, all that needed to be changed was the opening up of the outside wall that leads into the new extension.

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