Extension projects tend to get a bad rep in London, but Tsuruta Architects have managed to turn heads for the right reasons with their work on a Lewisham home.

The practice’s House of Trace was named the overall winner in New London Architecture’s ‘Don’t Move, Improve!’ awards, celebrating the best in home extensions across the capital. Tsuruta Architects added an extension that built on and around the existing brick structure, which had a sloped roof.

‘Our intent was to keep a sense of memory, while simultaneously allowing the new intervention to have its own identity,’ the architects told Dezeen.

The contrasting brickwork between the extension and existing structure delineates where the old structure ends and the new architecture begins. Tsuruta Architects also took home the Most Innovative award for the project.

Judges, including RIBA director Tamsie Thompson and New London Architecture chairman Peter Murray, praised House of Trace for its ‘true understanding of the building’s individual history’.

Second place went to David Kohn Architects for their extension of Sanderson House in Islington. Studio 30 Architects’ work on a property in Shepherd’s Bush took third.

A two-month exhibition showcasing all nominated and winning projects starts today at The Building Centre in London.