Houzz Tour: New Angle on a Multifaceted Renovation
It might be all corners and angles, but this renovated Melbourne, Australia, home is intended to be seen in the round
Approaching the reconfiguration, renovation and extension of a home always requires a new angle of attack, but in the case of this house, located on a prominent corner in Melbourne, Australia, it required several new angles.
Architect Daniel Wolkenberg of Poly Studio set about transforming the single-story Edwardian clapboard house by creating a modern addition that plays with lines and angles, but he also had to consider the fact that the house had three street frontages. The result is a house that makes the most of its multiple viewpoints, maximizes the size of the backyard and provides independent zones for the evolving needs of a family.
Architect Daniel Wolkenberg of Poly Studio set about transforming the single-story Edwardian clapboard house by creating a modern addition that plays with lines and angles, but he also had to consider the fact that the house had three street frontages. The result is a house that makes the most of its multiple viewpoints, maximizes the size of the backyard and provides independent zones for the evolving needs of a family.
The new addition — what Wolkenberg calls a deformed box — is designed to animate and engage with the streetscape. It is bordered by a fence that the clients got an artist to paint in order to discourage graffiti. “I think it works well with the premise of making a contribution to the streetscape, and helps to soften the expanse of black fencing,” the architect says.
The dark box-like addition is covered in stained-black silvertop ash wood to contrast and complement the original white clapboard cottage in front. Wolkenberg says this color palette expresses the organization of the house in black and white, as well as the relationship of the old and new. Its framework is painted pink as a bold but complementary contrast to the black.
Black stain: Palm Beach Black, Porter’s Original Paints; exterior trim paint: Soft Satin, Dulux
The dark box-like addition is covered in stained-black silvertop ash wood to contrast and complement the original white clapboard cottage in front. Wolkenberg says this color palette expresses the organization of the house in black and white, as well as the relationship of the old and new. Its framework is painted pink as a bold but complementary contrast to the black.
Black stain: Palm Beach Black, Porter’s Original Paints; exterior trim paint: Soft Satin, Dulux
Pink fascia is used around the plywood canopy that carves out the carport (from a bedroom in the original house), joining the new and old spaces and opening into the hallway. “This meant we could locate off-street parking from the side street rather than the lane, which liberated the back garden and optimized the orientation of rooms to the north,” Wolkenberg says. “It also provides very convenient access to the car, of critical importance to one of the clients, who is an obstetrician and is required to respond to call-outs at all hours.”
Originally, the Edwardian house accommodated all the bedrooms, with the living areas housed in a rear addition that Poly Studio demolished. Now, the interior has been structured around a series of separate zones, meeting a key request from the clients: “The consideration was of how the parents and children would use the house as the children matured and became teenagers. There had to be a provision for them to entertain and hang out independently of the parents,” Wolkenberg says.
The original clapboard house now comprises a parents’ zone with master bedroom, walk-in closet, en suite bathroom and a generous study-home office. The ground floor of the addition includes the open-plan living-dining space, kitchen and laundry, with the children’s zone upstairs. The addition opens to the garden, and the cantilevered northeast corner encloses a covered patio accessed from the living-dining area.
The original clapboard house now comprises a parents’ zone with master bedroom, walk-in closet, en suite bathroom and a generous study-home office. The ground floor of the addition includes the open-plan living-dining space, kitchen and laundry, with the children’s zone upstairs. The addition opens to the garden, and the cantilevered northeast corner encloses a covered patio accessed from the living-dining area.
Inside the cottage part of the home, the historic features and generous proportions of the original house have been retained. “The front entry corridor allows for a clear connection from the front of the house to the rear of the house, with a clear line of sight through to the back garden,” Wolkenberg says. This seamlessness is echoed in the flooring: existing Baltic pine floorboards in the front of the house merging into recycled Baltic pine floorboards in the rear of the house. “The clients wanted it to be as seamless as possible from the front of the house to the back.”
Wall paint: Natural White, Dulux
Wall paint: Natural White, Dulux
Also in the front of the house is the study. This is a generous room with a bay window and fireplace. Poly Studio retained the original architectural trim while inserting contemporary elements, such as built-in cabinetry, “to complement the original features but to be clearly legible as contemporary elements,” Wolkenberg says. He used laminate on birch plywood for much of the woodwork, including the closets and study bookshelves, because he liked the way the fabrication of the material is exposed.
Sphere pendant light: TossB
Sphere pendant light: TossB
Alongside the study, the master bedroom is in the front room of the Edwardian house and faces south on the front porch. Poly Studio undertook little intervention, with work predominantly limited to upgrading the fixtures and hardware.
Behind the master bedroom, however, a former east-facing bedroom has been converted into a walk-in closet and en suite bathroom.
The bathroom has a steam shower, and the vanity countertop is laminate on ply with pastel-colored cabinetry to mimic the soft blue of the kitchen.
Tile: Slimtech Gouache.10 porcelain tiles, Lea Ceramiche; vanity paint: Blue Balm, Dulux; Pol faucets: Sussex
Tile: Slimtech Gouache.10 porcelain tiles, Lea Ceramiche; vanity paint: Blue Balm, Dulux; Pol faucets: Sussex
Down the hall to the right, the galley-style kitchen extends east from the living and dining area. Its large north-facing window opens to the covered patio.
Beama Surface Eye Fixed light fixtures, Masson For Light
Beama Surface Eye Fixed light fixtures, Masson For Light
The recycled Baltic pine floorboards continue the sense of seamlessness throughout the old and new spaces, as do the white walls. Pale-blue cabinetry is a soft touch and in harmony with the master en suite bathroom.
Countertop: Sorbet, Essastone; cabinet paint: Blue Balm, Dulux; blacksplash: Devonshire ceramic tiles, white, Beaumont Tiles
Countertop: Sorbet, Essastone; cabinet paint: Blue Balm, Dulux; blacksplash: Devonshire ceramic tiles, white, Beaumont Tiles
“The house has been designed to incorporate passive design principles with key rooms and spaces oriented to the north with effective solar shading, and a minimization of windows facing east and west,” Wolkenberg says. Windows have been strategically located to encourage cross-ventilation. Reverse brick veneer construction has been adopted to incorporate thermal mass into the house.
Comet spotlight on tracks: Masson For Light
Comet spotlight on tracks: Masson For Light
On the ground floor of the addition, the living and dining zones are connected to the kitchen, laundry and courtyard. “Even though the house is modest in size, it feels generously proportioned, and the spaces work really well,”
Wolkenberg says.
The black-stained paneling of the addition’s exterior is also visible inside, creating a flow indoors and out. “We wrapped the cladding into the interior of the house along one wall of the living zone and up into the stairwell so that there was some continuity from exterior to interior,” the architect says.
Wolkenberg says.
The black-stained paneling of the addition’s exterior is also visible inside, creating a flow indoors and out. “We wrapped the cladding into the interior of the house along one wall of the living zone and up into the stairwell so that there was some continuity from exterior to interior,” the architect says.
A full-length and full-width feature window allows for plenty of northern light, while its angle and the eaves of the balcony above create a degree of self-shading.
Modo Eva pendant lights: Cafe Culture + Insitu
Modo Eva pendant lights: Cafe Culture + Insitu
As in the new living space, the black paneling extends along and up the wall of the stairway, terminating upstairs.
Wool carpet: Residence range Master Series, Seventy One, EC Group; Akari pendant light: Noguchi; Beama Solo Up & Down light: Masson For Light
Upstairs houses the children’s zone, with a bathroom and bedrooms that share a common balcony overlooking the backyard. This gives the children and parents their separate spaces and provides an opportunity for the children to entertain and hang out together with friends and independent of parents as they mature.
A balcony overlooks the rear garden and does double duty by providing some shading to the living areas below.
“Although it is not obviously designed to look ‘green,’ the form of the project has been shaped by this environmental response,” Wolkenberg says. “The extension is pushed down on the south to minimize its visual impact on the original house, and the form on the northern face is shaped to incorporate solar control, effectively forming a self-shading facade without the need for applied sun shading.”
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Who lives here: Two doctors and their two young children
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Year completed: 2016
Size: 2,583 square feet (240 square meters); four bedrooms, two bathrooms
Architect: Poly Studio
The house sits on a northeast corner, which pedestrians pass by on the way to the local train station and shopping strip. It’s also bounded by a rear lane on the north side of the property. “The project is a very specific response to the opportunities presented by the site and its location,” Wolkenberg says. The architect feels that this island-like condition results in the house being experienced in the round, despite its angular form.
“It is highly exposed to the neighborhood,” Wolkenberg says, “which suggested both an opportunity, but also a responsibility, for the house to contribute to the streetscape.”