Austen House

Space is at a premium in the centre of Winchester, that is why the clients at Austen House approached Adam Knibb Architects to come up with a clever and creative solution to increase the space of their house.

Austen House was a recently converted dwelling situated on the Old St. Swithun’s school site (and more recently the old Winchester Library site). The clients loved the location but desperately wanted a south facing room. It was conceived that with an access way beside the property, which only had to provide a right of passage for cars very occasionally, it was possible to build out and create a new room over the top of this space.

Being within the city centre conservation area, the addition to the house had to set itself apart from the main building with materiality as well as design. The floating timber box which touches the building lightly cantilevers out over the access way to give both a dramatic internal space but also a prominent feature down North Walls road.

Vertical timber cladding and large sections of glass have been designed to give a greater feeling of verticality and sense of place. With the tight nature of the site, principles of construction had to also be considered to ensure minimal disruption and interference to the neighbouring houses.