Garden Building and Landscaping, Sheffield

This project is within the grounds of and adjoining an Italianate villa within a Conservation Area. The site is currently occupied by an unsightly garage, the bulky form of which spoils the setting of the house while not being particularly functional either.

The brief for the proposal was for the replacement of the existing garage with a new structure adjoining the house to allow proper off-street parking, while retaining storage accommodation and enhancing of the house’s setting. Specifically incorporating: 

• Front landscaping to accommodate bins storage and side access approach from the front porch.

• A design that negotiates three level changes: between the road, the front of the house, and the back of the house.

• Doors front and rear to maintain access to back garden.

• A garden structure to enhance the feel and usability of the back garden – creating a sheltered canopy space that is more directly engaged with the garden than the house interior is at present.

The proposed design is a contemporary response that takes its cues from the context: canopies at front and rear fragment the overall massing, with the green roofs to the front and middle of the building terracing up in height in response to the rising ground level.

The intended effect is to give the distinctive gable end of the main body of the house breathing space again. Furthermore, the arrangement of porte cochère or car port is intended as part of an entrance sequence in tune with the existing porch. Both share a canopy aesthetic, with the new structure visually leading to the older.