Material Works extends Hackney home into an oversized bay window

London architecture studio Material Works has updated a Victorian home in Hackney, extending into its garden with a large double-height bay window framed with natural stone.

Named Hackney Bay House, the project involved transforming what the studio described as a "dark and confined" dwelling into an open, light-filled series of spaces for a family.

Despite being located in a conservation area, the neighbouring home had been extensively expanded before this status was granted, giving Material Works a precedent to extend the client's dwelling into its rear garden.

Taking cues from the visual language of the terraced street, the extension was conceived of as an oversized bay window made from natural stone, scaling up a familiar architectural motif to bring light and garden views into a new dining area.

"The existing terrace of houses has a clear rhythm to the rear, articulated by large bay windows at ground level," Material Works director Dickon Hayward told Dezeen.

"Our new elevation reinterprets this, extending the glazing down to the lower ground level, with larger panes and framed in natural stone," he added.

The lower ground floor of the home has been completely reconfigured to house a singular living, dining and kitchen area, slightly sunken at the rear in order to maximise its ceiling height and help to demarcate its different areas.

At the front of the home, an entertaining space overlooks a light well that sits below street level, while in the centre the kitchen is located alongside a timber staircase.

Stepping down at the rear of the home, the living and dining area expands into a side extension topped by a glass ceiling and the double-height bay window extension, where it is overlooked by a new mezzanine study area on the level above.

"The space is articulated with the creation of a new level change and lowered floors increase the ceiling height and provide a generous proportion," Hayward said.

"At the rear elevation, this space opens vertically to create a double height space in front of the new bay window – allowing the daylight to be drawn deep into the centre of the plan."

"Overlooking the bay, a new mezzanine level creates a place for home working – offering a degree of separation and privacy while still being connected to the communal space below and offering elevated views into the garden," he added.

The palette of these new spaces was guided by natural and biodegradable materials, with an exposed timber structure, unpainted natural lime plaster and reclaimed bricks.

Above, the upper floors that contain the home's bedrooms largely follow the existing historic layout, while at the end of the garden, a studio workspace and music studio is clad in cork and topped with timber shingles.

Elsewhere in London, ConForm Architects drew on the bay window for the form of an extension to a home in Hampstead, which was finished in green terrazzo, concrete and clay plaster, and DF_DC added a minimalist concrete extension to a Primrose Hill home.

The photography is by Fred Howarth.

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