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Photographs:Ros Kavanagh
© Ros Kavanagh
The project was to extend and remodel a 1920’s bungalow by the edge of a busy road. The ground falls away steeply behind the house, which formerly stood aloof from its garden. The design draws the living quarters down the hill into a new relationship with the garden. The rooms of the bungalow are given over to entrance, bedrooms and bathroom. The new concrete structure bridges and binds the house to the garden and its chimney anchors above and below.
The span of the extension houses a double height living-room, kitchen and utility spaces, stepping down and out through a terraced plinth to the garden below. The form of the casting springs and rotates to draw one down into the south and west light. The living room is floored with end-grain woodblock and the kitchen with polished concrete, wall surfaces are rough and smooth, bush-hammered concrete and painted timber sheeting. The kitchen dining room opens up as a terrace to the garden and a sunlit deck is carried on its back.
© Ros Kavanagh
Client Comment
The original house was built in 1929 but we wanted to build a bold, modern extension to contrast old and new - one that couldn't be seen from the road. We are very pleased with the result. The use of concrete gives the boldness we were looking for, while the extensive use of oak joinery for doors and windows lets the house blend in to the gardens and greenery at the rear of the house. We are particularly fond of the upper terrace which gets lots of sun; the functional simplicity of the kitchen; and the mass concrete chimney which comes into the centre of the living areas giving an 'outside-inside' effect.
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..it improves my mood to be in this house and not a more conventional one.
