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Architects: Architecture Architecture
- Area: 228 m²
- Year: 2017
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Photographs:Derek Swalwell
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Manufacturers: Kingspan Insulated Panels, Bamstone, Classic Ceramics, Colorbond, Darkon, Masson for Light, Plyco, Timberzoo, Volker Haug
Text description provided by the architects. This Murrumbeena extension is partly inspired by its original 1950s suburban home and partly by the modernist Case Study houses of the same decade. 1950s meets 1950s. About half of each. We’re talking fifty-fifty vision. That’s sharp. The original house is in good condition, has great charm, and is characteristic of the area: it’s fully detached, has a gabled slate roof, red brick walls, white fenestration and features stepped corbel details. Extending to the side and to the rear of the house, it was decided to retain as much of the original as possible and to honour its virtues with a contemporary interpretation.
The side extension, visible from the street, somewhat mirrors the original house. For clarity, the mirror line is marked by a vertical zip of projecting white bricks. Either side of this line is the chimney, in true facsimile. Thereafter things get distorted as the stepped corbel brickwork is magnified through the architectural looking glass.
To the rear, the extension appears as a neutral field of white blade walls supporting a thin, flat roof. The original roofline remains visible and the red brick house is merely veiled, appearing almost as if untouched. These new white walls create deep, shady thresholds for outdoor seating, dining and reclining, while concealing new bedrooms and new living quarters in their protective shade.
