Draper Studio's London house extension experiments with waste materials and structure

Draper Studio has completed a double-storey extension to a Victorian home in south London, designed for founder Adam Draper's own family. The project reuses spare stone bricks from other clients' projects, old concrete foundations as gabion walls, and salvaged bathroom brassware to minimize environmental impact. The 34 sq m extension features a Redwood-pine timber frame left visible, a concrete floor cast with terracotta tiles, stones, and shells collected by the children, and limestone blockwork walls. The roof cladding is raw zinc, and glazing uses anodised aluminium. Off-site fabrication reduced disruption and costs. The extension unifies the ground floor into kitchen, dining, and playroom zones, with a new double bedroom above. Draper describes the house as a laboratory for ideas and techniques he has been unable to convince clients to adopt.