The prefabricated concrete Airey House were built by the Ministry of Works emergency factory made housing programme as a modern solution to quickly answer post-war housing needs. Built with a slender prefabricated concrete structure reinforced with a hollow steel tubes recycled from military trucks, it was originally clad in horizontal precast concrete panels which expressed externally the innovative form of concrete construction and would have been striking and modern the time for rural Kent. The external concrete cladding was replaced with insulated brick cavity walling in the 1980’s which substantially changed the external concrete exterior of the house creating a far more normal suburban appearance.

The single storey extension is influenced by the properties history and references the innovative form of prefabricated construction originally used. The extension continues a language of external structural expression, but in a more sustainable and carbon friendly prefabricated timber frame. Black profiled steel cladding and polycarbonate glazing infill the timber frame adding texture and rhythm whilst providing a cost effective design.

The extension’s roof is angled away from the house in a reverse lean-to roof arrangement which provides high level slot windows creating a duel aspect space with plentiful natural daylight and cross ventilation whilst mitigating overlooking with the neighbouring properties.