Thinking about renovating a Victorian house? This case study shows how a neglected two-bedroom Victorian terraced house was transformed into a light-filled four-bedroom family home using thoughtful design, careful planning, and ARki, a 3D and AR design tool for renovation and extension projects.

This Victorian terrace was purchased in 2022 in a very poor condition. Like many period properties in London, the house had not been properly maintained for decades. Crumbling plaster, uneven floors, outdated services, and an impractical layout made the home unsuitable for modern living. Despite its condition, the property had strong foundations, generous ceiling heights, and classic Victorian proportions. These characteristics made it an ideal candidate for a full- house renovation and extension. One of the most common challenges in a Victorian house renovation is the internal layout. In this case, the bathroom was located on the ground floor while the kitchen sat on the first floor — a layout that no longer works for contemporary family life. The solution was a side return extension, a popular choice for Victorian terraced houses in London. This allowed the kitchen to be relocated to the ground floor and opened directly onto the garden. Large sliding doors were introduced to maximise natural light and create a strong indoor–outdoor connection.
The garden was landscaped to complement the extension, helping the kitchen and garden function as one continuous living space.

To increase the size of the house without extending the footprint, a loft conversion was added. The existing roof space was converted into two additional bedrooms and an ensuite, turning the house from a two-bedroom terrace into a four-bedroom family home.
A rear dormer extension was used to maximise usable floor area, while the original pitched roof at the front was retained to preserve the Victorian character of the street. This approach is typical of many loft conversions in London, where planning constraints require sensitivity to the original architecture

Following the structural work, the house was fully refurbished. This included new electrics, plumbing, plastering, and finishes throughout. The design approach focused on restoring period character while introducing a clean, modern aesthetic. Original proportions and details were respected, while contemporary materials, lighting, and a cohesive colour palette were used to create a calm and functional family home. At the front of the property, unattractive stone-effect cladding was removed to reveal the original brickwork beneath. Old aluminium windows were replaced with traditional white sash windows, and Victorian ceramic floor tiles were installed in the hallway, dramatically improving kerb appeal.

A key part of the renovation process was the use of ARki, a 3D and AR design platform for home renovation, extensions, and interior design. The existing Victorian house was recreated as a 3D model in ARki, allowing layouts, extensions, and room configurations to be tested before construction began. Using ARki, multiple kitchen layouts, bathroom designs, material finishes, textures, and colour schemes were explored virtually.
This was particularly valuable for high-cost areas such as kitchens and bathrooms, where mistakes can be expensive and disruptive. ARki made it possible to visualise design decisions in context, reducing uncertainty, avoiding costly changes during the build, and improving confidence throughout the renovation process.

How ARki helped this Victorian renovation:

• Visualised the existing house and proposed extensions in 3D
• Tested side return and loft conversion layouts before building
• Compared kitchen and bathroom designs without physical samples
• Refined colour palettes and materials across the entire house
• Reduced design risk and costly on-site changes

The completed renovation transformed a neglected Victorian terraced house into a spacious, light-filled four-bedroom family home suited to modern living. The combination of a loft conversion, side return extension, and full internal refurbishment unlocked the property’s full potential while preserving its period charm. This case study highlights how clear planning, patient execution, and early-stage visualisation using tools like ARki can make complex Victorian house renovations more manageable and successful.

Planning a house renovation or extension?
ARki helps homeowners, designers, and architects visualise renovations, test layouts, and make confident design decisions before construction begins.
👉 Explore ARki and start designing your renovation with confidence.

AI is transforming the way we work, promising unprecedented efficiency and productivity. For many tasks — especially routine or repetitive ones — AI can outperform human labour, completing work faster and more accurately than ever before. But true innovation, the kind that leads to breakthrough ideas and novel solutions, requires something more than speed or pattern recognition: it requires creativity. In a post-AI world, this shift from production to invention opens exciting possibilities for designers and architects, enabling them to explore, experiment, and reimagine what’s possible.

When it comes to digital life, everyone is talking about AI — but what we haven’t yet resolved is what the world looks like post-AI. Of course, adding AI to most tasks has the potential to make productivity skyrocket, and for many processes this level of efficiency surpasses any form of human labour. Across industries, AI is transforming how we work. In architecture, tools can automatically generate building layouts, optimise space usage, and even predict structural issues before they arise. In design, AI can create mood boards, suggest colour palettes, or draft variations of a concept in seconds. Across these tasks, AI doesn’t just save time — it amplifies output to levels no human team could achieve alone.

But what happens when you really need something more innovative? Ideas that aren’t just regurgitations of old theories and trends, but genuinely novel ways to decipher a problem or invent a solution never seen before. This task doesn’t rely solely on pattern recognition, but on something far more holistic and profound — what we call creativity.

The peak state, or “flow,” which researchers have linked to the gamma brain wave, is that incredible feeling of losing your sense of time while doing something you love — fuelled not only by passion but by complete absorption. This state is the essence of true creativity, and it’s one many of us have experienced when deeply engaged in a creative task that keeps us engrossed for hours. Neuroscience links the gamma brain wave to heightened perception, memory, and information processing. During creative “flow,” gamma waves synchronize across different brain regions, enhancing focus while dissolving the sense of time. In this state, ideas connect in novel ways, intuition guides decision-making, and inspiration feels effortless. Artists, architects, and designers often describe it as being “in the zone,” where the mind and body are fully aligned with the work. In accessing this state, we tap into something beyond logic and reasoning — connecting with what we might call consciousness, intuition, or even the quantum field. From this connection, inspiration and imagination flow freely, allowing us to generate ideas that feel both original and deeply aligned with something greater than ourselves. It’s in this space that true innovation happens — where the boundaries between thought and creation begin to blur.

For designers and architects, we see the post-AI era as a renaissance — where the role of a designer becomes less consumed by production and more focused on invention. If we can streamline the repetitive tasks of drawing, planning, and distribution, what remains are the core attributes of creativity, opening more time for exploration, experimentation, and the discovery of new ideas. It’s because of this that we see AI as a wonderful tool — one that can completely reinvent the way we approach design, removing the barriers of time and giving us more room to play, imagine, and engage in true creative exploration.

Creativity lies at the core of why we created ARki. More exploration and more time to play means more novel and innovative iterations can be born. We wanted to create a tool that gives users a reason to explore design. As productivity is increasingly enhanced by AI, more time becomes available to experiment with creative possibilities using spatial AI—the time to play with technology that can ignite imagination and access the optimum peak state. By merging technology with spatial creativity, ARki doesn’t just make design easier—it amplifies the creative process itself, giving professionals the freedom to experiment, innovate, and bring truly original ideas to life.

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This blog was written by Sahar Fikouhi 
Founder and CEO of ARki app 
​Linkedin ​

This year - for International women's day I was asked by Apple to share a bit about my story—how I went from being an architect to building my own tech company around my passion for design and innovation. I wasnt sure how I would tell this story without being ruthlessly honest about the struggles, It seems like some of the high moments in my journey are possibly groundbreaking achievements for an app-prenuer, but in the midst of the highs, are often several lows, which are longer and more frequent than the successes….

​After graduating from architecture school  in 2009, I was one the lucky few who got the opprtunity to work for Foster and Partners - the architects responsible for some of the most iconic buildings worldwide, including the Swiss Re and Apple Park! This job was a dream come true, and for a while, I thought I’d hit the jackpot in my career. I was secretly most excited to experience some of the cutting-edge innovations  being used in the studio.  Something most people don't know is that Foster and Partners were actually early pioneers in researching and trialing augmented reality solutions for architecture, which meant I got to experiment with some seriously futuristic tech while I was there.

But it didn’t take long for me to spot a major gap. All these incredible innovations weren’t exactly usable—at least not in a way that architects could easily integrate into their workflow. We were still stuck spending endless hours on 2D drawings when in actual fact i knew we could be working with more intuitive, immersive tools.

So I decided that that the pain of using outdated software was too extreme, and, I took a leap - or i should ay the first of many pivots. I went back to school to focus on computational design, and that kicked off a 15-year experimentation into augmented reality—exploring how it could bridge the gap between digital and physical spaces in a way that actually worked for architects.

During my time back at uni, I came up with a really quick solution - I built an iOS prototype called ARki which was essentially an app that combined AR with architectural visualisation on an Iphone device.

This is Iphone 5 era - so you would be amazed at how difficult it was to run a complex 3d mesh on iphone 5 processor - it required alot of mesh optimisation - and at the time everyone who experienced the app was totally awestruck as it felt like complete digital magic.

After Uni ended I decided that instead of going back to Foster and Partners - I was going to pitch this app to all my architecture friends and get them to convince their bosses that they needed this visualisation in their firm. This was really the start of my company - and I used this prototype to sell my design services to architects who had absolutely no idea that they needed AR visualisations for their own projects.

But it worked - and I even convinced Foster and Partners to pay me to build them their own AR visualisations!

I bootstrapped ARki from the ground up, funding development of the app by working with industry partners - mainly - architecture and engineering firms that my friends introduced me to. That approach gave me the freedom to grow the business at my own pace - taking time out intermittently to have my 2 children and figure out how to juggle motherhood with entrepreneurship. It was in this juggle that I realised I needed to automate my design services, to give me more time to spend with my family.

By 2018, I was finally able to hire my first developer, who helped transform my prototype into a fully functioning platform, which we could sell to a wider audience of architects via the app store.

Luckily the platform gained some early traction, winning best tool for architects and being featured in industry publications, which helped us reach our first users within the architecture community

Soon our work caught the attention of the App Store, and ARki was featured across multiple categories—including a dedicated app Story profile. This was a huge milestone for us, as it gave ARki global visibility and introduced the app to a much wider audience. I have to admit - an app store feature was a dream come true for me - as many aspiring app developers will agree, a feature on the app store is a great motivation to keep working on the product, especially when you have just spent the last 6 years prototyping and failing multiple AR experiments. But that kind of validation from the app store makes you even more determined to continue innovating.

We continued collaborating with companies during our development, One of our most exciting collaborations was with Network Rail. We got to experiment with architectural scale visualisations at various stations across the uk. In these projects we got to test how AR could help stakeholders design footbridges for UK stations and improve way-finding at busy railway hubs.We did this by using ARkit and testing out different solutions for persistent AR, using world objects and images as anchors to give the best results for large scale Augmented Reality experiences.

We even developed a system that allowed users to visualise modular station buildings in location. In this project users could assemble kit of parts models and test different station layouts in AR before anything was built.

​These large-scale experiments were immensely exciting, I spent most of my second pregnancy at paddington station mapping out real-world objects and images to use as anchors for our tests.  But unfortunately for me, my efforts at Paddington were seriously unsuccsesful - and it wasnt because I was 8 months pregnant!

During this time I learned that most public spaces have too many moving vehicles and people which obstructs the camera view, spoiling the AR experience. And although achieving architectural scale AR is do-able -  rush hour at Paddington station is the worst possible time to get accurate results.

Although disappointing, these failures were so important. They gave us a deep understanding of both the limitations and the huge potential of AR in architectural design, and allowed us to iterate the platform to gain a better understanding of what our users needed.

in 2020 -  after we had spent months doing footbridge experiments, ARki was featured during Apple’s iPad PRO launch keynote,  It was showcased to highlight the power of the new M1 chip on the iPad Pro, showing how ARki uses ARKit to create interactive and immersive full-scale AR experiences.
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Seeing ARki on such a global stage was a surreal moment. It was a another huge milestone that really validated our work and put us alongside some of the most innovative apps out there. I remember celebrating this event from my living room with my family and friends, it was a total pinch me moment!

But in entrepreneurship, the lows are often longer and more frequent than the highs, although we were doing some amazing work pushing the limits of mobile based AR, bootstrapping a company isn't easy, it can feel very overwhelming, especially when you are a small team. The constant cycles of debugging, iterating, and updating the app can feel endless. For any aspiring app developers I would say be ready for the bug reporting and debugging process of app development to become your new life. One of the hardest parts for me has been managing both product development and making sure you have enough sales to keep innovating - is not for the faint hearted.

Great advice is another difficult part of entrepreneurship, which you can’t always get from your friends and family. So when I received an invitation from Apple to meet Tim Cook, in 2022 I couldn’t wait to pick the brains of the worlds most prolific CEO.

Honestly I went to this event - ready to discuss how cool AR was with Tim cook and hoping he would drop some secrets on the long awaited AR headset, but I came out of that meeting with a whole new outlook on my business.

Everyone wants to know whats it like to meet tim cook? and my honest answer is -
he knows exactly how to find the issue and get the to heart of the problem. We only spent a few minutes discussing arki but he was quick to highlight the pain points that I had experienced for over the last 6 years.  I had underestimated that Tim Cook would come armed with incredible insights into markets, and the first thing he highlighted about my app was that I was tackling a tough industry selling to only architects.
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This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to get 1 on 1 feedback from an icon, and the advice he gave me was a really difficult truth - that I knew i had to take on if i wanted to grow the app.

Following that meeting, I realised that ARki had the potential to reach beyond professionals in the industry. I made the decision to - pivot once again - from a niche architectural tool to a consumer-facing app, allowing anyone to visualise and design architecture and interior projects. This shift was significant—it meant rethinking the user experience, redesigning the product features, the monetisation, and making ARki more intuitive for everyday users. But I knew that if we wanted to grow this app we needed to take that leap.

Just as we are pivoting to our B2C release - Apple drops a totally new device. The Vision Pro announcement came just as I was giving up on AR headsets. This headset was  something I had been anticipating for the last 10 years, and although we were mid development on our upcoming B2C iOS release, I couldn't pass on this opportunity to build our app for the vision pro device.

As an AR fanatic, I was desperate to get my hands on this hardware, so we stopped work on iOS and my whole team jumped on Vision OS - attending apple labs to test out how ARki would look and feel on a vision pro device. I was so excited to get a prototype working that we decided to launch our B2C version on Vision Pro before IOS to showcase the potential of spatial computing in architecture and interior design. Thankfully We managed to ship as one of the first spatial apps on Vision Pro, making ARki a day one launch partner for the vision pro USA release.

I was beyond excited to have made this deadline, we worked on this launch for just under 6 months. By now we have grown to team of 4 - but 6 months is actually not alot of time to learn a totally new OS & framework. We basically had to relearn everything, from USDZ to new UI designs, and an entirely new operating system with a bunch of new apis. It was chaos.

To make things worse, midway through development, I made the bold (some might say slightly insane) decision to re-platform from Unity to Swift. It was yet another PIVOT -  something I deliberated on for several weeks, but it had to be done. From past experience working with apple’s new api’s I knew that we would struggle massively to make our vision pro debut with a buggy unity version.So convincing the team to switch to swift was the only way we would get a prototype ready in time for the vision pro launch. My team were not thrilled—my lead developer even threatened to quit. I had to pull out my best negotiation skills and convinced him to give me one week on RealityKit. luckily that week was enough to convince the team to switch to RealityKit, and we soon realised working with swift was the only way to get the best performance and seamless integration on Vision pro.

Despite all the chaos, we pulled it off 2 months earlier that we originally anticipated!
It was a next milestone for us, proving not just our technical skills but our ability to pivot under pressure!

As if that excitement wasnt enough, off the back of our Vision Pro launch, late last year we finally made the release of our B2C room planner update on IOS. This relaunch is all about making architecture and interior design more accessible, fun, and user-friendly. Weather you are a home owner, or a just redesigning your living space, we wanted to create a tool that will make that experience easy and enjoyable.

We packed in new features to make designing and visualising spaces in 3D and AR even easier. The room planner update was 18 month in production, and we spent countless hours building our 3d furniture library to be as lifelike and accurate as possible for every room in your house.

Looking ahead, we’re definitely not slowing down—we are excited to keep pushing the limits of innovation in architecture and interior design.

The AI conversation is just as significant in the Architecture world as any other,
im especially excited to see how AI can be used in architectural space planning for both professionals and everyday users.We’re also going to be teaming up with furniture brands  interior design  practical, letting users visualise with real-world products that actually fit their space.
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And of course, On vision pro - we’re just getting started. The possibilities of Ai and augmented reality space planning are endless.Augmented reality is the digital interface for Ai, so I believe that when we collide these 2 worlds - magic can really happen.

I want to conclude my story by highlighting one of the biggest parts of my journey as a female founder, Innovation is a big part of what I do - it keeps me creative, and it allows us to have fun building stuff,

but another big aspect of my story has been finding innovative ways of balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship. I started the journey over 15 years ago when working remotely wasn't really an option for anyone. The app store was my solution to carving a career from home, which gave me the flexibility to write code around my kids nap times.

The biggest challenge wasn’t just launching a business or building a product—it was designing a way of working that allowed me to grow as both a founder and a parent. This journey has reinforced my belief that innovation isn’t just about what we build—it’s about how we build it. It’s about creating a system that work for us, rather than trying to fit into outdated models. I hope that the future of work continues to empower more women to create, lead, and redefine success on their own terms.




This blog was written by Sahar Fikouhi 
Founder and CEO of ARki iOS app 
​Linkedin 

We’re thrilled to announce that ARki: Room Planner is now optimized for Vision Pro! With this update, users can experience their designs like never before, bringing their creative vision to life in immersive, realistic detail. Whether you're designing a new space, updating a room, or personalising your home, ARki on Vision Pro offers a seamless, intuitive design experience that makes transforming your environment easier and faster.

With Vision Pro, ARki brings your vision to life in immersive realism. Choose and arrange from over 1k+ furniture models, positioning each piece precisely where it belongs. With simple drag-and-drop tools, you can scale, rotate, lock, and duplicate items with ease, allowing you to refine every detail. Customise everything, from colours to furniture finishes, experimenting until you find the perfect colour scheme.

ARki: room planner is available on iOS, iPad and Vision Pro

We want to share some exciting news! Our upcoming update ARki 12 will introduce a major change to our current app.
We want to make architecture and design more accessible to everyone, and so we are introducing new features that will make the visualisation and interior design experience easier for people world wide.

For the last 18 months we have been working on the major update which will include several new features to ARki. This update will allow both professional and amateur architecture, and interior enthusiasts to draw, visualise and design interior spaces, using our comprehensive catalogue of furniture models, along with new scanning and draw functionalities. Check out some of the new features that will be available from ARki 12, Out Now.

​Use LiDAR to capture room plans quickly without needing to measure or draw.

Create and design 2D/3D room layouts accurately with simple tools that let you unleash the inner designer!

Design your interior space by carefully choosing and arranging furniture from over 1000+ furniture models.

Adjust the colour of the walls/ floors or furniture to understand the best options for your space.

ARki room planner is available on iOS, iPad and Vision Pro

Import GLB and FBX files 

• ​Compress GLB files using a .zip to reduce download time.  
• GLB files are supported from the following softwares: Blender, Rhino, Cinema4D

Read export instructions here for best results. 

Today marks a groundbreaking moment in the realms of architecture and design as we proudly announce the release of the ARki app, exclusively for Apple Vision Pro and available on the App Store for US customers on February 2nd!

ARki is specifically focusing on interior design, as we believe this headset holds most value for people looking to re-design, change or re-vamp their existing interior spaces. Traditionally, visualising interior designs involved photographing spaces and creating 3D models of the actual rooms. However, with Augmented Reality, this process becomes much more straightforward and engaging. You can skip the tedious aspects and dive directly into visualisation. Apple Vision Pro elevates this experience beyond standard AR tools. It offers a hands-free approach, seamlessly integrating into our natural design instincts. You can move objects simply by using hand gestures and direct your focus with eye movements, making the entire design process more intuitive and interactive.

With Apple Vision Pro, the digital and physical world seamlessly blends to deliver a spatial experience that is nothing short of revolutionary; it overlays 3D furniture models onto your physical space, allowing you to see and interact with them as if they were really there. This real-world integration can greatly enhance design precision.

Manipulating three-dimensional design elements in your space will feel surprisingly natural. You can select furniture, adjust colours, and modify options with intuitive hand gestures and eye movements. It will feel like you're actually manipulating the elements in your physical space, a significant leap beyond the limitations of traditional design software and touch-screen AR.

Apple Vision Pro has the ability to overlay objects with true-to-life scale and proportions in your space is incredibly beneficial, especially when you're working with small spaces where the size of furniture is critical. You can confidently try out different layouts and see how they actually fit in the room, eliminating much of the guesswork often involved in traditional methods.

The lighting and texture simulations in Apple Vision Pro are exceptional. You'll be able to see how different materials and finishes look under various real-world lighting conditions, guiding you in choosing the most suitable options for your projects.

The immediate feedback loop and the ability to quickly iterate designs are crucial. You'll be able to make on-the-spot adjustments based on client feedback, streamlining the design process and ensuring higher client satisfaction.

For those who don't have a deep background in interior design, Apple Vision Pro along with ARki, has made the field much more accessible and less intimidating. You'll be able to experiment with various styles and arrangements in your actual space, reducing the risk of costly errors and poor design decisions.

ARki for Apple Vision Pro is more than just a tool; it's a transformative journey, expanding the horizons of what's possible in interior design. It makes the process more interactive, collaborative, and innovative, fundamentally changing how we approach design!

Check it out on the US App Store on Feb 2nd.

Step into a visionary world where architecture and design transcend traditional boundaries. Founder, Sahar Fikouhi explores how augmented reality is poised to revolutionise the way we conceive, create, and experience built environments. ​

​This month at AWE 2023, Sahar revealed her creative process and the challenges and opportunities of developing for the next generation of AR devices. In her talk, Sahar Fikouhi discussed her journey as a former architect and her dedication to utilizing augmented reality to offer designers a more intuitive means of exploring their concepts. She emphasized the importance of critical thinking in design and highlighted how enhanced visualization can lead to the creation of more thoughtful and user-responsive spaces.
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​Fikouhi highlighted AR's potential as a design communication tool, emphasizing the need to transition from image tracking to fully embrace AR as a spatial medium. However, she also pointed out the challenges of achieving accurate architectural visualizations in AR, particularly for large buildings in dynamic environments.

The talk then delved into several case studies showcasing ARki's applications:

ARki was used to visualize future footbridges across various UK stations, allowing project sponsors to interact with and evaluate different proposals.

​Students at Parsons School of Design employed ARki to experiment with 3D models superimposed throughout New York City, gaining insights into how their ideas could impact the urban environment in real-time.

A prototype was created at Paddington station to visualize new wayfinding signage, demonstrating how AR could help station managers position signage intuitively.

ARki was used to facilitate the creation of modular architecture for Network Rail's new station design, allowing users to collaboratively design and share station layouts based on kit-of-parts models.

Fikouhi looked ahead to the future of spatial computing, highlighting the potential of hand and eye tracking to provide users with greater design freedom and more intuitive experiences, ultimately enhancing project iteration and evolution. The future of spatial computing blurs the lines between the physical and digital realms, enhancing the creative process and enabling architects and designers to dream bigger and bolder.

Overall, the talk showcased the journey of ARki's development and its various applications in design and architecture, highlighting both the opportunities and challenges associated with augmented reality in these fields.

ARki app is helping the next generation of designers set their work apart! If you would like to learn more about how you can be stepping into the future of Architecture + design, download ARki on iOS and get started with a 7 day free trial! 

Apple Announced their new mixed-reality headset this month at WWDC - Apple's Vision Pro headset is poised to revolutionise architecture and design by incorporating groundbreaking features such as Lidar, eye tracking and hand gestures. As we prepare to upgrade ARki for the launch of Vision Pro in 2024, here are a few of the main design features we believe will revolutionise architecture and design! 

ARki app is helping the next generation of designers set their work apart! If you would like to learn more about how you can be stepping into the future of Architecture + design, download ARki on iOS and get started with a 7 day free trial! 

ARki 10 update now live, and it includes several new feature enhancements to help you create interactive AR experiences.

For this update we collaborated with Network Rail and 7N architects to showcase their winning HUB Station model designed as a Kit-of-Parts.

​Checkout how we used the new modular builder in ARki 10 to showcase the HUB station design.  

The modular builder allows users to create their own station designs from the kit-of-parts models designed by 7N architects. The kit-of-parts design ensures build quality of future stations, allows greater flexibility when expanding stations, and reduces construction time. The Category E model shown above is a typical design for a new HUB station, built using the modular builder in ARki 10. ​

The new modular builder allows users to drag and drop various models into the scene and create new configurations using the simple 3d tools.

Experience projects in location using the Kit-of-Parts models on-site and design your local station.

The Hub station modular builder is now live on ARki 10

Learn more about the HUB station:
For the Re-imagining Railway Stations Competition, Network Rail invited proposals that will challenge and re-imagine what a ‘station’ could become in the 21st century. 7N Architects’ winning ‘HUB Station’ concept, selected from over 200 international entries, envisions the railway as a progressive, sustainable mode of transport with a pivotal civic role in serving communities throughout the UK.