Architect Luis Trevino demonstrates design without boundaries

With the right creative team there are no boundaries when it comes to redevelopment. Luis Trevino Architects show James Matthews just what can be achieved – turning a tight-fit house into a spacious luxury home

Walk down the leafy streets of Wandsworth and you’d be forgiven for not giving Skinner Trevino House a second glance.

Yet, what appears to be an ordinary semidetached house holds a deceptively spacious design layout within its walls. Thanks to an interior overhaul from Luis Trevino Architects, this unassuming suburban property has been given a new lease of life; its transformation from gloomy and cramped family home into a light and airy open-plan living space; discreet floor to ceiling doors, walls and lights installed to create a space that seamlessly transitions from old to new.

Company founder, Luis Trevino explains: “Retaining the original staircase but extending it up to the top floor of the house was really the start of the transformation. Our choice of structural glass for the stair extension, positioning it between the skylight prism that protrudes into the roof as a dormer and a two-way mirror, gives a fabulous feeling of openness with an absence of limiting spacial boundaries.”

On the other side of the mirror – is a concealed shower, affording the user both privacy and an uninterrupted view of the garden, while the skylight allows natural light to stream down through the entire house. To continue the free-flow special effect, the property’s rear extension was built entirely out of glass allowing “huge amounts of daylight” to flood into the kitchen.

The home’s contemporary accents don’t stand in isolation either. Instead, they’ve been cleverly incorporated into the conversion to enhance the original period features including the Victorian doors which are framed by a sloping glass roof with expertly laid soldier bricks stacked immediately above.

At the far end of the property, and echoing the glass prism at the top of the stairwell, a large glass door opens directly out to the garden. Finally, at loft level, the grand master bedroom suite with balcony doors beautifully frames the view of the back elevation; its dormer finish, clad in Scandinavian larch timber slats to disguise the balcony doors.

On the roof, a sun deck overlooks the nearby church tower and its surroundings - the view stretching all the way to the River Thames.

Adds Trevino: “They say first impressions can be deceiving. It’s certainly the case with this project. Conventional from the outside – but head within and you have a perfect example of what can be done with any living space when you allow yourself to think outside the box.”