Studio Bark extends Victorian home in Kent using flatpack U-Build system

Cork panels and timber slats contrast with a traditional Victorian frontage at the Meadow Road house in Kent, renovated and extended by London practice Studio Bark.

Studio Bark has retrofitted the existing home while adding a 50-square-metre rear extension constructed from U-Build – the studio's flatpack construction kit, which is made from timber parts and was developed for self-build projects.

This allowed construction to be carried out with the help of the clients themselves.

According to Studio Bark, the existing Victorian villa, which is located in the town of Tunbridge Wells, required updating due to its inefficient layout and cold, damp interior.

To preserve the original character of the home's facade and interior, the new elements were finished in a deliberately contrasting palette of natural materials.

This includes an overcladding of cork panels to the existing home and a lining of plywood panels in the extension.

"Bridging historic fabric with present-day performance standards, the deep energy retrofit of the Victorian building aimed to reduce energy use and bills, enhance comfort and wellbeing, and limit upfront carbon and construction waste," Studio Bark's director Tom Bennett told Dezeen.

"The modular U-Build system was specified for the extension, to facilitate the client’s desire to have a self-build dimension to the project, getting hands-on with the construction," he added.

Retaining the four-quadrant layout of the Victorian home, the studio removed a garage to create a new level-access entrance at one side, which leads into a triple-height, skylit circulation space at its heart.

At the back of the home, the extension contains an open-plan kitchen and dining room and two additional bedrooms on the first floor. They are linked vertically by a timber staircase that connects to the home's existing landing.

Using Studio Bark's U-Build system, the two-storey extension was built from modular timber sections, produced off-site and assembled using only simple hand tools.

Internally, these U-Build modules have been lined with spruce plywood, contrasting a more traditional palette of warm peaches and cool greens in the existing home.

This approach of contrasts is continued on the exterior, where the home's original facade and plaster mouldings are set against newly insulated and breathable surfaces, including cork panels on some elevations and slatted timber planks on its rear extension.

"Improving the thermal performance of the historic fabric demanded sensitivity to moisture dynamics and permeability, leading to the use of natural, breathable materials throughout," explained Bennett.

"Our analysis showed that energy bills were cut by 75 per cent, even with a 27 per cent increase in floor area and the addition of electric vehicle charging," he added.

Studio Bark was founded by Wilf Meynell, Nick Newman and Stephane Chadwick in London in 2014.

Its previous projects, also built with U-Build, include an extension in Essex clad with slatted screens of stained black timber and the demountable Nest House on a farmstead in Herefordshire.

The photography is by Jim Stephenson.

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