Architects Ran Ankory and Maya Carni of Scenario Architecture have opened up the interior of their Victorian terraced house in north London and added a glazed extension at the rear. The architect couple bought the property in London’s Stoke Newington with the intention of renovating, extending and updating it to create a home able to support their family’s evolving needs.

This house was a chance to be our own clients. It was purchased with the intention of completely renovating, extending and adapting it to the scenarios of our own family life. It presented us with the opportunity to ‘practice what we preach’ to its fullest expression and create the scenario house.

The main design challenge was finding a way of connecting the front part of the house, which originally had two separate Victorian reception rooms with the basement level, a full floor height below, both physically and visually, to create a sense of single and connected open living and kitchen spaces.

Creating a split-level open double reception, connected to the kitchen and garden floor by an angled glazed roof extension and a ‘floating’ library feature leading up to the bedroom floors, solved this challenge.

Considerable thought was given to developing our brief both for current and future scenarios and a conscious effort was made to use every available space the house had to offer. This included using spaces under the stairs, in the eves, in hallways and limited height areas. Photography by Matt Clayton