All in the family: Kindred

Home to three generations of one Melbourne family, this highly mutable house is both a model for responsive infill housing and an ideal fit for its occupants, both now and into the future.

To care for a relative into old age is one of life’s greatest privileges. It is both a challenge and a joy, and a rare opportunity for the reciprocated witnessing of life. This notion forms the basis for Kindred, an intergenerational family home designed by Panov Scott Architects. Multigenerational living is easy to romanticize and tint with noble aspirations, but this is a project born equally of empathy and pragmatism. The home’s owners, Alf and Emma, had initially moved to hilly Christchurch, New Zealand, to be closer to Alf’s parents, Nancy and Otto, who are both aged in their eighties. However, after only days in the city, with moving boxes scarcely unpacked, they were hit by the region’s most recent earthquake and decided that Melbourne’s flat, gridded terrain would provide a more stable platform on which to live together and support Alf’s parents’ aging in place.

Set on a typical suburban block, what appears from the street as a single family home deceptively houses three generations and has the flexibility to shift in response to the family’s evolving structure. At present, the plan is configured so that each generation can retain independence. Nancy and Otto’s place, located on the ground level at the front of the site and adjacent to Alf and Emma’s main living areas, is completely self-contained, with a garden the sole shared amenity. When describing the concept for the home, architects Anita Panov and Andrew Scott explain that, in this house, the gardens come first. The largest garden, anchored by a beloved elm tree, is edged by oversized doors to the living spaces, inviting the smaller family units to spill out onto the verandahs and into the garden to interact. “We ended up with a courtyard house, where both families face into the central garden,” says Alf. “Of an evening, when we all come outside to enjoy the space, we’ll catch up on our day.”

The house has been designed around its gardens, with a shared lawn anchored by a large elm at its centre.

The house has been designed around its gardens, with a shared lawn anchored by a large elm at its centre.

Image: Brett Boardman

Upstairs, three bedrooms with large picture windows on their easternmost edge appear to hover over the front fence. The windows serve to frame vignettes of family members as they sit at reading or study nooks inside, activating the streetscape and connecting with the neighbourhood. The children’s bedrooms are joined or divided by a large sliding door, which to date has been largely left open and will, no doubt, provide valuable experience in diplomacy. And this is what it means to share space, after all – to live closely and to be tolerant. Design moves such as this provide lessons in compromise that extend to the way we treat others.

Thresholds have been “thickened” so that the spaces edging the garden can be comfortably inhabited.

Thresholds have been “thickened” so that the spaces edging the garden can be comfortably inhabited.

Image: Brett Boardman

When Emma and Alf talk about the impetus to live as a family with two children and a set of grandparents under one roof, they steer the conversation toward sustainability, both environmental and social. “I guess it was about not only living with my parents, but having our kids understand that it’s not just about us, that we’re part of a larger family and community,” says Alf. “We started thinking of sustainability as being about materials and energy efficiency,” adds Emma. “But the fact that we have six of us here, on one site, sharing the house, adds to that sustainable way of living.” Anticipating the family’s future iterations, Anita and Andrew have designed the house to operate in a number of configurations. An additional bedroom downstairs can be part of either dwelling, depending on which door is latched shut. This kind of malleability in the plan means that the size of the front downstairs dwelling could be reduced and leased or used as a work space.

Kindred has all the hallmarks of meticulous and thoughtful design for which Panov Scott Architects is well known – it is neatly detailed and executed. A simple, operable envelope allows the family to mitigate the extremes of the Melbourne climate. “To have a house that’s warm in winter feels very grown up,” says Emma. It’s a remark that reflects their appreciation of the subtle ways the architecture has improved their quality of life. Kindred is inspirational in the very best way. Rather than pushing an image of “home” as an object of aspiration, it provides a model of housing and a mode of living that is affordable, environmentally responsible and socially sustainable.

Emma and Alf talk to Gemma Savio about their experience working with Panov Scott Architects.

Also, read the profile of Panov Scott Architects.

Products and materials

Roofing
Lysaght Trimdek and custom flashings and gutters in Colorbond ‘Night Sky’; Danpal Australia Everbright E610 polycarbonate roofing
External walls
CSR compressed fibre cement and Weathertex Weathergroove Natural in Murobond Woodwash ‘Black’; off-form concrete Internal walls: CD Structural plywood; CSR plasterboard in Dulux ‘Vivid White’
Windows
Architectural Window Systems aluminium windows in black powdercoat finish; custom timber and brass windows
Doors
Solid core sliding doors in Dulux ‘Vivid White’; Brio sliding door hardware
Flooring
Boral blackbutt solid strip flooring in Loba 2K Invisible Protect A.T. finish
Lighting
Brightgreen light fittings
Kitchen
Custom white laminate and CD Structural ply joinery; Corian benchtop in ‘Glacier White’; Bosch oven; Fisher and Paykel fridge; Smeg dishwasher; Abey sink; Puretec kitchen mixer
Bathroom
CSR compressed fibre cement in Newlook Smartcolour ‘White’; Johnson Tiles Waringa Vitrified in ‘Satin White’; Caroma Urbane toilet; Gianni and Costa ceramic vanities; Kaldewei enamel bath; Methven Minimalist tapware
Heating and cooling
Hydronic heating

Credits

Project
Kindred
Architect
Panov Scott Architects
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Project Team
Anita Panov, Andrew Scott
Consultants
Builder Glyde Construction
Engineer OPS Engineers
Aboriginal Nation
Kindred is built on the land of the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin nation
Site Details
Site type Suburban
Site area 681 m2
Building area 323 m2
Project Details
Status Built
Completion date 2019
Design, documentation 24 months
Construction 15 months
Category Residential
Type New houses

Source

Project

Published online: 4 Feb 2021
Words: Gemma Savio
Images: Brett Boardman

Issue

Houses, June 2020

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