Architectural Residential Case Studies
Find inspiration through our property features, showcasing real homes and home improvement projects, filmed & featured by HomeInspire, in partnership with homeowners, architects, and interior designers. Each feature and video tour takes you inside the story of a property transformation, exploring design ideas, materials, and practical insights behind some of the UK’s most inspiring renovation work and home projects.
-
Our architectural residential case studies go beyond showcasing beautiful finished homes. They explore the thinking behind each project, from the initial design brief and planning challenges to material choices, construction techniques, and the details that make every home unique. By documenting the full journey, we provide valuable insight into the design process and the collaboration between homeowners, architects, designers, and contractors.
Whether you're planning your own renovation, searching for ideas, or simply passionate about residential architecture, our architectural residential case studies offer inspiration grounded in real projects. From contemporary extensions and whole-house refurbishments to self-builds and sensitive period restorations, each feature highlights practical solutions alongside exceptional design, helping you better understand what is possible for your own home.
Through high-quality photography, cinematic video tours, and in-depth project stories, we aim to celebrate the creativity, craftsmanship, and expertise behind every transformation. Our growing collection of architectural residential case studies is designed to inspire homeowners, support design professionals, and showcase outstanding residential architecture from across the UK.
Riverbank: Inside Alan's Rebuilt Riverside Cottage in Hunworth, North Norfolk
When Alan found a crumbling cottage on the River Glaven in North Norfolk, he put an offer in the same day. What followed was a 5-year rebuild in which only the front wall was left standing — 24 steel piles down to the chalk bed, an 18-month bat survey delay, and a traditional Norfolk front hiding a back wall of frameless glass and Corten steel that nobody can see from the street.
Bottlebrush House: Inside Danny's Restored and Extended Late Victorian Home in London
Danny bought this late Victorian London home in 2023 planning to move in, do a bit of wallpapering and take it room by room. When the plaster started crumbling off the walls, it became a full renovation — the house stripped back to brick, the facade freed from sixty years of burgundy paint, and the Victorian cornicing and fireplaces carefully reinstated. At the rear, a green zinc extension by Studio Collab houses a kitchen with a green quartzite island, Crittall doors and an oriel window reading nook. When the budget ran out, Danny picked up the tools and did the panelling, skirting and picture rails himself — a proper labour of love, right down to a staircase that took a year to restore.
Looking Glass Lodge: Inside Rik and Lindsey's Elevated Woodland Retreat Near Hastings, East Sussex
Rik and Lindsey spent years eyeing up an 8-acre woodland clearing on family land near Hastings before building Looking Glass Lodge - a self-tinting glass retreat raised on 22 screw piles to avoid disturbing a single tree root. What began as a single-bedroom shepherd's hut idea became a RIBA award-winning lodge, built around an ancient redwood and a planning process that ended up taking longer than the build itself.
The Chatterbox: Inside Andy's Contemporary Self-Build on a 14-Acre Farm in Suffolk
Andy bought a derelict 14-acre dairy farm near Southwold at auction in 2015. What followed was a stunning self-build that transformed the central farmyard into a stunning five-bedroom contemporary home: three barn forms, a glass entrance hall framing the Suffolk countryside, a 6.5-metre apex kitchen, a sunken garden, and a ground source heated home that barely announces itself from the road.
Dacres: Inside an Architect-Designed Sustainable Home on the South Downs, East Sussex
Award-winning architect Duncan Baker Brown returns to the South Downs home he designed a decade ago — a 100% electric, EPC A-rated eco home that began life as a two-bedroom bungalow, and still looks as remarkable as the day it was completed.
Meadowbank: A Contemporary Addition to an Arts and Crafts Home in Manchester by Guy Taylor Associates
Guy Taylor Associates faced one of architecture's most delicate briefs: how do you add something contemporary to a home with this much existing character? The answer, at this Arts and Crafts property in Manchester, is with restraint, precision, and a deep respect for what was already there — producing an extension that feels inevitable rather than imposed.
Victorian Terrace Reimagined: Inside Interior Architect Emily Pun's Beautifully Renovated Home in London
When your profession is interior architecture, your own home is the most honest portfolio piece you'll ever have. Emily Pun's London Victorian terrace is exactly that — a quietly confident renovation where every material choice and spatial decision reflects a designer who knows precisely what she's doing, and why.
Carysfort Road: A Modern North London Renovation & Extension by Moxy & Co Architects.
Architects Moxy & Co Architects brought a precise, contemporary sensibility to this Stoke Newington terrace — a renovation and extension that doesn't try to mimic the existing Victorian fabric, but instead creates a clear and confident dialogue between old and new. The outcome is a home that feels both rooted and thoroughly modern.