The Glade_

The Glade began with an existing Huddersfield home and an ambition for something altogether different. More space, more light, a closer connection to the garden — but above all, a new identity. Rather than simply adding to what was there, the opportunity was to rethink how the house was seen and experienced. A transformation in character as much as in space.

The existing building presented the constraint. Its structure and proportions would remain, yet visually the house needed to move somewhere new. The challenge was to create an extension with enough presence to redefine the whole, without becoming disconnected from what sat behind it. Scale, appearance and the relationship between old and new were central to the planning strategy with Kirklees Council. The answer called for something decisive. Not an addition that deferred to the original, but architecture capable of changing it.

A long, low volume stretches across the house, becoming extension and façade in one. Matte black surfaces redraw the elevation; floor-to-ceiling glass cuts through the solidity and pulls the garden deep into the plan. The roof reaches out beyond the glazing, its exaggerated overhang creating a sheltered loggia and reinforcing the horizontal line. The geometry continues into the landscape — oversized staggered pavers, timber terraces and structured planting extending the architecture beyond the envelope. The original house recedes. The new intervention takes over.

The transformation is absolute. Dark, horizontal and sharply detailed, The Glade now reads as an entirely contemporary home. Black surfaces disappear against the landscape. Glass reflects it. Timber brings warmth beneath the deep roofline, while planting softens the edges between building and garden. Inside, light and landscape dominate. Outside, the extension becomes the architecture. What remains of the original is almost secondary — a familiar house given an unfamiliar face.