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By Toby Wincer

Unlocking the Hidden Potential of Your Dream Home from an Existing Property.

On a prominent corner plot, the building is set over 5 storeys, transitioning in scale beneath an undulating roof structure. The building’s contemporary, responsive form and its materiality has been designed to amplify development potential whilst respecting the architecture and scale of adjacent buildings, which feature white rendered façades and prominent gabled elevations.

Floor-to-ceiling windows, Juliette and recessed balconies let in abundant natural light and will look on to the site’s retained mature trees and new landscaping, designed to mimic a forest floor.

Place a true heart at the centre.

Many period houses were designed around formality rather than daily life. Repositioning the social heart — usually the kitchen — so that it becomes a point of convergence rather than a destination is one of the most effective re-ordering moves.

When circulation naturally passes through a social core, homes become more intuitive, connected and alive. This approach transforms everything from narrow London terraces to sprawling country houses and split-level chalets.

Use height to create spatial generosity.

Space is felt as much vertically as it is horizontally. Opening ceilings, creating double-height moments and aligning stair voids can dramatically change how generous a home feels, often without increasing its footprint.

Tall volumes draw daylight deeper into plans, improve ventilation and introduce a calm sense of breathing space. Selective vertical release is one of renovation’s most powerful tools for turning modest rooms into emotionally expansive interiors.

Create long views and visual threads.

Buildings feel open because the eye is allowed to travel. Carefully aligned doorways, internal windows and layered glazing introduce visual continuity, improving daylight, orientation and perceived scale.

Long views give homes clarity and legibility, particularly valuable in deep-plan townhouses, winged country houses and compact mountain chalets.

Use contrast to clarify old and new.

Successful renovation does not imitate, it converses. A clearly contemporary intervention can sharpen the character of an original building.

Material, proportion and light quality can be used to differentiate new from old, avoiding pastiche while allowing both parts to feel confident, honest and coherent.

Let Light Become an Architectural Material.

Light should be shaped, filtered and animated. Rooflights, louvres, deep reveals and courtyards transform interiors throughout the day and seasons.

Designed light brings softness, movement and time into a home, turning static rooms into living environments.

Extend Living Spaces Beyond the Walls.

Renovation should expand the territory of the home. Through generous glazing, garden rooms and sheltered thresholds, interior life is drawn outward, transforming gardens, terraces and balconies into genuine living spaces while pulling daylight deep inside.

Transitioning in scale beneath an undulating roof structure.

Renovation as Re-Ordering.

Great renovation is not defined by square metres added, but by clarity gained. By re-centring daily life, releasing height, deepening light and extending living outward, existing homes are transformed, architecturally and emotionally.

Because the best renovations do not simply change houses, they change how life flows through them.

About the OB Family

OB is an award-winning group of three architectural studios, delivering aspirational homes in cities, coastlines, mountains, and in the countryside. Established by Founder Olly Bray in 2010, OB Architecture is a friendly and open practice of experienced architects, designers and technicians. The team works between three architectural studios in London, Winchester and Chamonix delivering projects locally and internationally.

‘Our buildings deliver value. We design for people, and we’re passionate about delivering tangible value through considered and innovative design.’