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Architects: Sonelo Architects
- Area: 204 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Pier Carthew
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Manufacturers: Unios, ABI Interiors, Arc Reo, Astro Lighting, Cangini & Tucci, Easycraft, Elton Group, Falmec, James Hardie , Le Veneziane Di Cerim, Lysaght, Toss B
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Lead Architects: Wilson Tang, Elodie Lim
Text description provided by the architects. Garden Wall House is a permanent home for a family of four, a professional couple, and their two teenage children. The client's brief is to refresh their two-storey abode. The front part of the house (master bedroom suite) has previously been renovated. The south-facing living area (kitchen, meals area, and living) was dimly lit and cold. The connection to the garden from the living area was laborious and uninspiring. The focus of the alteration addition works is on optimizing the layout to suit the family's daily needs, engagement with the existing rear garden, and access to the northerly aspect. Additional space was not mandatory.
The design response pivots around the idea of building a 'thick hedge' as a portal between the home and the garden. Lined with a rhythmical grid of green battens and espaliers, the addition extends east-west beyond the line of the existing house to provide new entry vestibules and simultaneously capture the northerly aspect. Large sliding doors and a skylight frame the garden view and the sky.
In the rear garden, the paved outdoor dining, also a landing space, creates a seamless flow from the living area to the lawn and the secondary raised brick plinth seating spot to catch the sun. Integrated raised brick veggie beds and barbecue add to the backyard living. Inside on ground level, the new kitchen and living remodeling places emphasis on openness, flow, and warmth.
Low clean line timber veneer cabinetries paired with muted stone tops aim to preserve clear vantages of the garden. The powder room and pantry addition gave the opportunity to rationalize the landing and dictate the transitional experience into the living space. This is the threshold when the entire room and garden are visually revealed. Concealed behind the powder room, the kitchen can flow freely to and fro the pantry without revealing what often can be cluttered.
On the first floor, the old toilet had no window and the bathroom was poky. We consolidated them into a good-sized shared bathroom. The bathroom vanity unit becomes the central vessel one pivots around to use the basin, shower, or bath.
The alteration addition unlocks the labored connection to the garden and daylight. The spaces are now light-filled and inviting. There is a reborn appreciation of the garden. Quality spaces with a high degree of flexibility are now accessible to the family whether to isolate, mingle, or host at ease, indoor and outdoor. The experience of the home is complete. All parts of the house and property are effortlessly accessible and enjoyed on a daily basis.
