Houses 109 preview

Houses 109 is on sale from 31 March.

When a person is well travelled, with fascinating tales of adventure, broad knowledge of the world and diverse friendships, their personality tends to have a richness to it. If you personify the house, it’s a similar story – there is a richness to those houses with narratives of inhabitation, layers of history and shared memories. So how does a new house or renovation, without the benefit of these stories and historical layers, avoid being sterile or characterless?

One of the ways architects and designers are adding character to new residential architecture is through a layering of materials and textures. Our cover project, Rosalie House by Owen Architecture, is a new home without the “shininess” of something new. The combination of materials such as recycled clay roof tiles, painted weatherboards and bricks gives texture to the interior and exterior spaces. In addition, the breaking down of the house into smaller pockets or zones allows the owners and their children to easily make each space their own.

The backyard elevation of Architecture Architecture’s Hip and Gable House is a play in roof forms, materials, texture and colour. The shifts in materials reflect the tactility of the existing Californian bungalow that the new work is grafted onto. Internally this layering continues, not just in material, but also in function. For example, bench seats line the corridor to activate what might otherwise be a forgotten or peripheral space.

In Backyard Studio, Figureground Architecture has unified its layering of spaces and material textures by finishing the entire building in the colour white. Connecting this studio back to the rear laneway also borrows the character of this underused passageway.

Carlton Cloister by MRTN Architects takes cues from the materiality of the existing Victorian terrace house, with the floor and walls of the new corridor lined in brick. Leaving materials exposed like this, rather than covering them with plasterboard, for example, adds warmth and depth to the spaces. The play with materials is even taken through into the main ensuite, where the wall tiles have a brick-like colour and texture.

There is a current trend toward this layered and textural approach to residential architecture in Australia. We hope you enjoy the variety and richness of the house “personalities” we’ve selected for this issue.

Katelin Butler, editor

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