Hollydale Avenue was about creating a secluded retreat away from the bustling streets of South London, transforming a ground floor flat. As the existing rear outside space was adjacent to a road, the design looked to create a secondary space and courtyard between existing property and extension, that was sheltered from the noises of the urban jungle. Through spatial invention, the extension faced the outside from both ends, dissolving the boundary between interior and exterior and maximising daylight within the space. As the dominant material present, the concrete was cast in-situ to reveal the grain of the wooden formwork and travel through the new living area and both external spaces, drawing the plan outwards and supporting the extension. On the opposite side, the planter follows the line of the kitchen surface to visually integrate the outdoors whilst also providing garden storage. Together, we worked with the client to develop a unique pattern in the weathering steel, based on the abstract idea of vines as the perforations grow in succession rising up the steel ribs. The expressive façade produces an ever changing patterns of light and shadow. This, along with the wooden concrete formwork, continues the idea of an oasis amongst the urban jungle.