Mansfield, “Riverview” - house extension and renovation

Here Studio was engaged from concept design through to documentation for this extension to a house and cottage on a beautiful property called 'Riverview' near Mansfield. The existing house sits on an elevated man-made plateau overlooking a bend in Delatite River. The clients chose the site "because of its capacity for sustainability, permanent water supply, proximity (and distance) to Mansfield and Melbourne, proximity to Mt Buller, and because of its Zen essence". The existing house faced due North, had single glazing, asbestos walls and poor insulation. In its current state it was especially cold in Winter. It was originally built in the 1950s but renovated in 2009 in rendered brick, plastered stud walls and stone tiles. Working closely with the clients, the project goal was to make the house more comfortable, inspiring, larger in a few places and overall, thermally effective. The starting concept was drawn on a napkin describing a transition along a dragon's back from the mountain temple to the sea – the view down to the landscape below. Instead of demolishing and starting anew, we worked to retain almost the entirety of the existing house including using existing openings and most of the current rooms. We worked closely with the local structural engineer to develop an all-timber frame with curved laminated timber beams (for curved plaster ceilings) and to work with the alpine climate. The layout was carefully designed to maximise passive design principles, and materials. Years later the client reported a 75% saving ($2000) per year in electricity bills, and great health and wellbeing benefits.