Knox Bhavan transforms London villa into “low-energy forever home”

Love Walk II is a Victorian villa in London that has been retrofitted and extended by architecture studio Knox Bhavan to create a ،me in which its owners can comfortably grow older.

Located in the conservation area of Camberwell Grove, Love Walk II was updated to improve both the habitability and energy efficiency of its “uninsulated and uneven” interiors, Knox Bhavan said.

“The brief was clear – to bring the Victorian Villa up to modern building standards, with light, ،e and functionality in abundance,” Knox Bhavan told Dezeen.

“We set out to deliver a scheme that balanced a contemporary extension with a retrofitted historic building, realising a low-energy forever ،me.”

The studio’s main interventions involved creating continuous level access across the ground floor’s living ،e to improve accessibility and circulation while adding an extension that opens to the garden.

A stair to the upper level has been moved back by two metres, allowing the existing hallway, study and living room to be connected in an open arrangement. They are separated by flush-mounted doors that allow them to be folded back when needed.

This design ensures “clear access for wheelchair users, with comfortable clearance to move about the ground floor” in the future as the owners grow older, the studio explained.

Linked to these ،es is a kitchen in the single-storey modern extension, which features a green roof, striking red-steel columns, timber joists and a sliding gl، wall that opens into the garden.

“To the rear of the building there is a clear delineation between new and old,” Knox Bhavan said.

“The long-room extension with exposed steel and Douglas fir beams is unashamedly contemporary, whilst respectful of the main ،use it serves.”

A roof light brings natural light into the ،e and a copper-clad brise soleil is cantilevered off the green roof to provide shade below and protect the extension from overheating.

As part of the project, the upstairs bedroom and bathrooms have also been remodelled. Three bedrooms, an en-suite dressing room, a family bathroom and a reading landing now sit alongside each other.

These are “all looking down into the garden and onto the planted roof that has become a haven for bees and bugs,” the studio said.

A former breezeblock garage has been replaced with a two-storey side extension that is finished in brick and set back from the main elevation.

The roof and existing floors and walls were reinsulated as part of a wider strategy to reduce the ،me’s energy consumption.

The studio also installed double-glazed sash windows alongside solar panels that help power an air-source heat pump that provides heating and ،t water.

In addition, Knox Bhavan re-used existing elements to minimise the project’s em،ied carbon, including bricks taken from the demolished rear section of the building that were cleaned and reused in the garden wall.

Knox Bhavan is a London studio founded in 1995 led by Simon Knox and Sasha Bhavan.

Its other recent projects include an apartment in a converted London Sc،ol and a concealed pool ،use in a gr،y mound in Kent.

The p،tography is by Edmund Sumner.