The period property had large amounts of character as existing but was not working for the clients family. The connectivity between the spaces was disrupted and they required an open plan space including the kitchen, dining and living space. We designed the new space to be within the basement as this was a space with irregular use and had a better connection to the expansive rear garden than the ground floor. The space where the kitchen was on the ground floor then became available for us to use to bring a greater connection between the 2 floors. Opening this space to create a double height room gave the rear space large amounts of light and also shared this with the hallway on the ground floor. Having the visual connection between the 2 spaces allowed for the views in both directions and to combine the modern style of the new basement works with the original features in the main house such as the stained glass within the hallway doors.