Unlocking Hidden Potential
From London townhouses to country piles and alpine chalets, the most successful renovations are not always about adding space — they are about re-ordering life.
Every existing home carries two parallel stories. The first is its architectural history — materials, proportions and craftsmanship.
The second is the way people actually live inside it today. Great renovation happens where those two narratives are carefully realigned.
Rather than treating extensions as bolt-ons, the most powerful transformations come from a small number of clear architectural moves that reshape how a home flows, connects and breathes.
Place a True Heart at the Centre
Many period houses were designed around formality rather than daily life. Repositioning the social heart — usually the kitchen — so that it becomes a point of convergence rather than a destination is one of the most effective re-ordering moves.
When circulation naturally passes through a social core, homes become more intuitive, connected and alive. This approach transforms everything from narrow London terraces to sprawling country houses and split-level chalets.
Use Height to Create Spatial Generosity
Space is felt as much vertically as it is horizontally. Opening ceilings, creating double-height moments and aligning stair voids can dramatically change how generous a home feels — often without increasing its footprint.
Tall volumes draw daylight deeper into plans, improve ventilation and introduce a calm sense of breathing space. Selective vertical release is one of renovation’s most powerful tools for turning modest rooms into emotionally expansive interiors.
Create Long Views and Visual Threads
Buildings feel open because the eye is allowed to travel. Carefully aligned doorways, internal windows and layered glazing introduce visual continuity, improving daylight, orientation and perceived scale.
Long views give homes clarity and legibility — particularly valuable in deep-plan townhouses, winged country houses and compact mountain chalets.
Use Contrast to Clarify Old and New
Successful renovation does not imitate — it converses. A clearly contemporary intervention can sharpen the character of an original building.
Material, proportion and light quality can be used to differentiate new from old, avoiding pastiche while allowing both parts to feel confident, honest and coherent.
Let Light Become an Architectural Material
Light should be shaped, filtered and animated. Rooflights, louvres, deep reveals and courtyards transform interiors throughout the day and seasons.
Designed light brings softness, movement and time into a home — turning static rooms into living environments.
Extend Living Spaces Beyond the Walls
Renovation should expand the territory of the home. Through generous glazing, garden rooms and sheltered thresholds, interior life is drawn outward, transforming gardens, terraces and balconies into genuine living spaces while pulling daylight deep inside.
Renovation as Re-Ordering
Great renovation is not defined by square metres added, but by clarity gained. By re-centring daily life, releasing height, deepening light and extending living outward, existing homes are transformed — architecturally and emotionally.
Because the best renovations do not simply change houses, they change how life flows through them.
About OB Architecture:
OB Architecture is an award-winning architectural firm delivering aspirational homes on coastlines and mountains, in cities and in the countryside. Established by Founder Olly Bray in 2010, OB Architecture is a friendly and open practice of experienced architects, designers and technicians. The team works between three architectural studios in London, Winchester and Chamonix delivering projects locally and internationally.
‘Our buildings deliver value. We design for people, and we’re passionate about delivering tangible value through considered and innovative design.’
