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Architects: Andrew Child Architect
- Area: 150 m²
- Year: 2013
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Photographs:Rhiannon Slatter
Text description provided by the architects. The owners wanted to upgrade an internally awkward and dark middle suburban Californian Bungalow into a light, modern 3-bedroom + study residence. There was a small group of huge native eucalypt trees in the backyard that the owners loved, so they became integral to the design of the new addition. The rear extension has substantial north-facing windows that are angled to avoid and focus on these existing trees and to use them for shading from the summer sun.
An angled eave overhang is provided for these windows where there are no trees to offer shading. The extension was conceived as a single volume of efficient construction. It has a simple flat roof with interconnected spaces differentiated by changes in floor level that follow the sloping site. The rear decks also terrace downward toward the north to follow the sloping site.
These help to maintain a connection to the landscape as one moves through the house. Timber-framed windows and timber batten walls with grey stain finish were used externally to blend with the tree trunks of the surrounding eucalypts in the rear yard. The largely white interior of the house extension provided a clear contrasting canvas able to be animated by the light and shadows from the rear trees and landscape.
Through the angling of the glass rear wall, the angling of the eave and decks, the use of a restrained internal material palette and the terracing down of the floor and deck levels to follow the site, the intention was to create a varied and generous interior animated by the light, trees, shadows, and landscape.
