Dale Road
Opening Up a Semi-Detached Home
to Light, Garden, and Family Life
This semi-detached home located along Dale Road had a fragmented layout to the rear of the house that compartmentalised family life, separating kitchen, dining and living into separate rooms.
It also lacked a clear connection between these spaces and the garden to the rear. The challenge was to create a central communal space that would bring the household together and open up the home to the rear garden.
A new multi-functional room that combines living, kitchen and dining is located at the prime position on site to connect the primary circulation route and living room to the new space and maximise the connection to the garden.
The key challenge therefore became to forge a stronger connection between the rear living areas and the garden.
By opening up sightlines and reorganizing the rooms, the once-separated spaces now feel interconnected and welcoming. The utility is also relocated to a more practical area.
The result is a flexible living area that supports everyday family life.To reinforce visual and physical links, the lounge and dining‐room window were both enlarged with the dining room window lowered to form a built-in bench, opening up a clear sightline from the entrance hall to the garden and flooding the rear living spaces with natural light.
The reordered layout ensures that every room now benefits from both natural light and proximity to communal areas. Spaces that once felt isolated are now part of a cohesive whole, supporting a more connected, comfortable, and adaptable home environment.
The new open-plan space brings kitchen, dining, and living functions together in a way that encourages interaction, shared experiences, and adaptability for daily routines.
Generous corner glazing and well-placed openings flood the home with natural light, while also extending the sense of space to the garden beyond. The corner glazing not only frames views of the garden but also creates a strong visual and physical connection to the outdoors, making the home feel larger, brighter, and more inviting.
With open circulation, abundant light, and seamless indoor-outdoor connections, the renovation has fundamentally enhanced the way the home is lived in, creating a warm, inviting, and enduring space for the family to grow into.
