The careful repair of the concrete terraces of a steeply sloping rear garden in Hastings suggests a metaphor of darning: of precise interventions of anchoring and patching, in place of demolition and replacement, stitching the dilapidated site towards re-use. A series of ground anchors hold steady the existing retaining walls, identifiable through their distinctive circular caps, while localised concrete repairs patch cracks.
Onto this mended hillside, lightweight timber structures allow the existing Victorian dwelling to reorientate towards the outside spaces. A sense of interconnection, natural light and far, layered views now replaces the previously dark and isolated ground floor rooms of the house. A new route, formed with both repaired and new elements, winds up the rear garden, tying buildings and landscape together.
The construction of the new structures, formed of engineered timber (LVL), is precisely articulated, in particular the corner timber junctions. The resulting stepped corner is expressed in the glazing, with sliding doors occupying the higher profile, their large apertures opening onto the central courtyard, and the external metal cladding lifted at these moments to form projecting and protecting metal caps.