Yan Lane / Justin Mallia

Yan Lane / Justin Mallia - Exterior Photography, FacadeYan Lane / Justin Mallia - Exterior Photography, FacadeYan Lane / Justin Mallia - Exterior Photography, Windows, Fence, FacadeYan Lane / Justin Mallia - Exterior Photography, Table, Windows, ChairYan Lane / Justin Mallia - More Images+ 15

Melbourne, Australia
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Yan Lane / Justin Mallia - Exterior Photography, Table, Windows, Chair
© Paul Cadenhead

Text description provided by the architects. Yan Lane is a small new street located in an eclectic area of the inner city of Melbourne, Australia. Undertaken on a small budget, this scheme was conceived as an opportunity to use architectural understanding to drive a development project to meaningfully infill an otherwise ignored space and to achieve financial return. The project involved the subdivision of a narrow sliver of land with no street frontage and hidden between the rear face of shops to the south and the backyard fences and sheds of houses to the north. Yan Lane is primarily the creation of a new building incorporating two houses but reaches beyond the scope of the small site to include the extension of services infrastructure from the main road and the recreation of a right of way to form a new street. The project creates an activated, human place from what was previously disused and neglected.

Yan Lane / Justin Mallia - Exterior Photography
© Justin Mallia
Yan Lane / Justin Mallia - Interior Photography, Windows
© Emma Cross

In response to diverse and complex surroundings the two houses are simply presented as a single building. In order to be accessible and occupiable, the form of the building contorts itself in response to the dimensionally tight parameters of the site through a stepped sectional profile. Each face of the building is assembled with different materials and performs differently to interact between its immediate external context and the internal spaces it encloses. A repetitive structural timber frame is exposed as a consistent organising principle throughout this assemblage. It conceptually stitches the facades together creating a cohesive whole.

Yan Lane / Justin Mallia - Image 16 of 20
Ground Floor
Yan Lane / Justin Mallia - Image 17 of 20
Mid Floor
Yan Lane / Justin Mallia - Image 18 of 20
Top Floor

Towards the noise and clutter at the back of the adjoining shops, the south elevation presents itself in a simple unified manner through the repetition of the expressed timber columns set on a solid zincalume backing. The building can open up to engage with and enliven the laneway or it can close down to a seamless, simple façade. Towards the light, tree canopies and residential character to the north, the envelope is set back from the structural frame enabling it to be openable with wide sliding doors and becoming a deep occupiable space through a layering of extensive customised screens, terraces and planting. The facades are flexible allowing permeability to be mediated depending on the day, to suit the weather or the way the spaces are occupied.

Yan Lane / Justin Mallia - Interior Photography, Bedroom, Wood, Beam, Bed
© Paul Cadenhead

The building is energy efficient, carefully detailed and tactile.  It is a surprising encounter of light and tranquillity in an otherwise gritty urban setting.

Yan Lane / Justin Mallia - Image 19 of 20
Section

Product Description. The structural system of this building includes a repetitive rhythm of exposed portal frames formed with naturally weather resistant Australian Cypress “Durabeam” Glulam beams braced with exposed 15mm thick Blackbutt “Armourpanel” plywood flooring.  The repetitive frames give the building its unity and identity and are encountered throughout as a strong organising principle.  They enable flexibility freeing the infilling envelope from structural constraints to open up, enclose or filter to meet the difficult constraints of the context.  The simple but innovative use of exposed timber structure efficiently addresses multiple design objectives delivering a creative, cost efficient solution in a dense inner city context.

Yan Lane / Justin Mallia - Exterior Photography, Facade
© Emma Cross

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Project location

Address:Melbourne VIC, Australia

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Yan Lane / Justin Mallia" 24 Mar 2017. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/801129/yan-lane-justin-mallia> ISSN 0719-8884

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