Cube - Single Storey Rear Extension + LandscapingA compact extension in Bromsgrove that had to resolve a substantial level change, connect a garage, and create a garden that finally made sense.
CubeSingle Storey Rear Extension + LandscapingBromsgrove, Worcestershire2022A young couple in a terraced home they were settled in, but with a rear that wasn't working. The kitchen felt closed off, the connection to the garden was poor, and the space between the house and the detached garage at the back had become something of a dead zone. They weren't after a large extension - they wanted a modest, well-considered addition that would transform how the back of the house felt to live in day to day.
The Brief
A compact rear extension to open up the small kitchen into a more efficient and spacious kitchen, living, and dining space - functional, uncluttered, and well connected to the garden. The detached garage sat to the rear with a significant level change between the two, and the design needed to resolve that relationship as part of the wider project. Modest in scale, but meaningful in outcome.
Context’s Approach
The extension is deliberately sleek and restrained - a contemporary addition that marries with the existing brick without competing with it. The parapet detail is reduced right down, allowing the ceiling line to read continuously behind the glazing and maximising the sense of internal light and height. A light oak timber lining wraps the ceiling soffit and its return, visible through the glass from the garden - tying the extension to the kitchen joinery and finishes beyond, and turning what could have been a utilitarian detail into an architectural moment.
The level change between the house and the detached garage was resolved through a sequence of steps that double as informal seating; Generous, considered, and genuinely useful. Retaining walls were designed as integrated planters, softening the boundary between built and planted and giving the rear garden a coherence it previously lacked. The result is a space where the extension, the garage, and the garden all read as one composed whole rather than a series of disconnected elements.
The Outcome
A modest addition with an outsized effect. The back of the house is now the best part of it; A calm, light-filled space for cooking, eating, and spending time, with a garden that finally feels connected to the home it belongs to.
Cube - Rear Composition
Cube - Rear Single Storey Extension
Cube - Glazing + Soffit Detailing