The refurbishment of a modest bungalow in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, has given nimtim architects an opportunity to consider how accessibility, longevity and material character can be embedded into a home without making any of them feel like additions. Evermore retains and extends the existing structure to create a 151-square-metre house designed around changing needs, everyday rituals and a long-term relationship with its occupants.

South London-based nimtim works across architecture, landscape and interiors, with projects shaped closely around the people who use them. Here, that collaborative approach was particularly important. Julia and Simon had been living in a basement flat in North London that could not accommodate Julia’s changing mobility needs. After discovering Aldeburgh and buying the bungalow in 2021, they asked the practice to turn it into a home they could remain in for decades.

The existing plan was stripped back, replacing its small, enclosed rooms with a continuous ground floor. Wide circulation routes, pocket doors and a gently sloping ramp integrated into the front garden allow movement through the house without thresholds. Rather than producing a clinical accessible environment, nimtim has used material, colour and built-in elements to give the spaces a domestic identity.

Along with practicality, longevity was a key part of the brief, as the clients wanted a house that could last for around 30 years without constant repair or redecoration, and material choices were consequently made for their durability, maintenance requirements and ability to age.

The exterior is wrapped in deep red Viroc, a cement-bonded board selected for its resilience in Aldeburgh’s exposed coastal environment. Its rusty tone gives the otherwise simple bungalow a distinctive presence, while aluminium windows and doors are colour-matched to create a continuous surface treatment. Inside, the same family of colour appears in the bathrooms, where burnt-orange microcrete provides a robust, seamless finish suited to the threshold-free wet rooms.

The main living spaces take a quieter approach, where clay plaster from Clayworks gives the walls a soft, matt texture, with White-08 Smooth and Mica Smooth used through the double-height space and Nude-02 Smooth elsewhere. The subtle variation avoids making the open-plan arrangement feel uniform, while allowing daylight to register across the walls. Timber flooring brings warmth underfoot, while microcement continues the deliberately low-maintenance approach into the wet areas. Pale duck-egg-blue cabinetry adds another layer of colour to the kitchen and pantry.

The kitchen forms the social centre of the plan, reflecting Simon’s interest in cooking and preserving. Lowered worktops and storage make the space accessible, while a double-height void and skylight draw daylight into the middle of the house. The ground-floor bedroom opens directly onto this shared area through sliding pocket doors, allowing it to remain connected to daily life or become private when required.

That flexibility continues upstairs, where a mezzanine accommodates Simon’s workspace and has been planned to allow for a future live-in carer. Elsewhere, a guest room can be separated from the main living space with a sliding door and includes its own shower.

Art and collected objects are treated as part of the architecture rather than decoration added afterwards. A continuous recessed picture rail allows Julia and Simon to rearrange their collection over time, while bespoke shelving incorporates ceramics and objects gathered through years of travel.

The environmental strategy follows the same principle of doing more with what already exists. Retaining and extending the bungalow reduced embodied carbon, while high levels of insulation, triple glazing and an air-source heat pump support operational performance. Rainwater is collected beneath the garden for irrigation, with provision for future photovoltaic panels.

Evermore demonstrates how adaptation can be the starting point for a more durable kind of domestic architecture: one where accessibility, personal identity and material longevity are considered together rather than solved separately.

All images © Jim Stephenson