The project involved extending a suburban house into its garden to create a new family space. The existing house is in a ubiquitous international style imported after the Kosovo War. Some clearly deteriorating post-and-beam concrete structures stood in its garden. The obvious approach would have been to demolish them; but quiet contemplation led the architect and clients to conclude that they held the house’s very soul, protecting and enabling its energy flow. They therefore chose to embrace them by encasing them with a steel frame that incorporates mechanical equipment and supports an outer glass skin. Parts of the main house’s walls were replaced with sliding glass doors to welcome the energy in. Steel plates shape both entrances to the space. Reclaimed oak is used for flooring and the entrance door. The glass-enclosed open volume, flooded with sunlight and surrounded by greenery, has become the clients’ main year-round living space.

Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture