Houses, June 2017

Houses, June 2017

Houses

The best contemporary residential architecture, with inspirational ideas from leading architects and designers.

Preview

Houses 116.
Archive | Katelin Butler | 19 May 2017

Houses 116 preview

Introduction to Houses 116.

First House

A projecting timber wall assisted in providing privacy from the neighbouring properties.
Projects | Christopher Polly | 10 Oct 2017

First House: Hird Behan House

Designed in 2005, this terrace house renovation assisted Christopher Polly in a transition from full-time employment to embark on the journey of establishing his own practice.

Projects

The entry facade is a playful composition of blocks of colour and battened screens on a white background.
Projects | Katelin Butler | 25 Jul 2017

Beachy graphics: Burleigh Street House

Embodying its local beachside context, this alteration and addition reconsiders the suburban status quo.

The main living area is punctuated and zoned by a light well to the internal courtyard garden below.
Projects | Genevieve Lilley | 27 Sep 2017

In disguise: Balmoral House

In Balmoral House by Collins and Turner a choreographed and artful sequence of layered internal and external spaces is contained within a building form that belies its size.

The charred timber exterior of the extension curves around an olive tree and recedes into the garden.
Projects | Mark Scruby | 28 Jul 2017

Sensory sanctum: Garden Pavilion

This new extension by BLOXAS is a private garden sanctuary in more ways than one, as an escape from modern city life and as a place of retreat for a client who suffers from a chronic sleep disorder.

The fluid curves of the canopy structure sit within a small clearing, surrounded by a forty-metre-tall vestigial landscape.
Projects | Michelle Bailey | 1 Aug 2017

Tent House by Sparks Architects

Extending ideas about climate-responsive architecture and responding to its campsite-like site, this new home by Sparks Architects is poetic and emotionally charged.

A low passage framed by dark-stained timber battens leads from the existing house to the rear extension.
Projects | Sarah Hurst | 13 Sep 2017

Sensitive yet striking: East Melbourne Terrace

This renovation of a dark terrace house by Wolveridge Architects has resulted in a contemporary, light-filled home with striking timber elements and comfortable connections to nature.

The planning and spatial sequence are precisely ordered to optimize space, belying the modest size of the house.
Projects | Helen Norrie | 26 Sep 2017

Relaxed grandeur: River’s Edge House

This beachside home by Stuart Tanner Architects is precise without being overly fussy, facilitating a relaxed lifestyle with a measured sense of order and grandeur.

Two full-height pivot doors define the living zone and frame the view to the terraced garden.
Projects | Hannah Slater | 4 Oct 2017

Unlocked potential: D House

The original plan of this semidetached home has been “unlocked” by Marston Architects to allow light and air into an elegant and finely detailed alteration and addition.

The client’s love of mid-century design helped drive the aesthetic of the new home.
Projects | Margie Fraser | 29 Sep 2017

Scenery and shenanigans: Rocky House

A generous site has been transformed by Base Architecture into a private park, complete with a golf course and skate bowl, and a new home that takes from modernist cues.

Revisited

Within the unstructured landscape, the curving limestone walls resonate with gravitas, pinning the house to the site.
Projects | Vanessa Mooney | 22 Sep 2017

Revisited: Choong House

Built in 1985, this home by Biltmoderne presents a poetic integration of architecture, water and landscape, both reinforcing and contradicting the local mudbrick tradition.

More articles

Hiro-En House by Matt Gibson Architecture and Design. Artwork: Katie McKinnon.

Meet the owners of Hiro-En House

Matt Gibson Architecture and Design has transformed a Victorian house for a family of five, better connecting it with the garden through clever elements such as large, flowing, outdoor curtains. The clients share their experience of working with an architect.

The Toumbaal Plains House references the “rudimentary detailing of timeless, pragmatic rural buildings.”
Projects | Genevieve Lilley | 27 May 2022

The landscape-defined houses of Fergus Scott Architects

Connection with the landscape is a central theme of Fergus Scott Architects’ residential designs, resulting in homes that are “very rich to the senses” and that offer easy transitions between spaces for openness and protection.

A new staircase in a central atrium marks the transition from old to new in a robust palette of concrete, recycled timber, steel and glass. Artwork: Maricou, Silver Mare.
Projects | Peter Salhani | 12 Sep 2017

A harmonious weave: Balmain Semi

Weaving elements of the old building fabric in with the new, in some places overtly and in others organically, gives Balmain Semi by CO-AP and Nick Bell Architects a feeling of harmony.

A two-storey-high sheet of fine stainless steel mesh fabric slides across to protect the living areas from the harsh western sun.
Projects | Mark Scruby | 8 Sep 2017

Curtain call: Hiro-En House

A unique design element brings this home by Matt Gibson Architecture + Design into the twenty-first century while preserving and celebrating the original Victorian home.

The kitchen and dining area borrow light and fresh air from the adjacent courtyard.
Projects | Tobias Horrocks | 19 Sep 2017

Shadows of heritage: Elgin Street Residence

The cultural heritage of the clients subtly influenced this reworking of a 19th century row house in Melbourne’s Carlton by Sonelo Design Studio.