2022 Houses Awards: House in a Heritage Context – joint winner

Autumn House is a wonderfully cohesive family home orchestrated from disparate parts. In a Victorian streetscape of attached terraces, the home occupies a double block. Studio Bright’s design retains only the most valued components. The street entry to the Victorian terrace is restored, and the 1980s addition by Mick Jorgensen serves as design inspiration for further development of the site. New walls envelop the balance of the property, creating courtyard gardens to capture northern sun and embrace an elm tree. The result is a dynamic street relationship that both comfortably sits in its context and hints at the extraordinary design within.

From the street, the proportion and setback of the walled addition is broken by the playfulness of an elongated window, allowing a glimpse of the activity beyond. However, it is the placement of a wedge-shaped addition at the intersection of two lanes to the rear of the site that is a master stroke. It allows the elm tree to remain visually dominant while effectively managing the form and bulk of the new structure, at once meeting the brief and retaining open space.

The materiality of the walls celebrates the 1980s bagged brick and then dissolves the inner thresholds between the courtyards and the addition. On the upper level, steel mesh wraps the rear building in a colour that recalls the red brick of the laneway structures. As the greenery punctuates this mesh, the public realm will continue to change as the lucky occupants enjoy the beautifully crafted interior.

The Award for House in a Heritage Context is supported by the Heritage Council of Victoria. See full image galleries of all the winning and shortlisted projects here.

For more coverage, read the project review by Michael Macleod.

Autumn House is built on the land of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people.

Project credits

Architect: Studio Bright Project team: Melissa Bright, Maia Close, Robert McIntyre, Emily Watson, Annie Suratt, Jaxon Webb, Pei She Lee Builder: Provan Built Engineer: Meyer Consulting Landscape designer: Eckersley Garden Architecture Landscape contractor: Normark