Bunurong People
Victoria
The reinvention of a Federation house as a ‘machine for living’.
The brief called for an extraordinary architectural expression of a courtyard house that presented to the street discretely and responded appropriately to the immediate heritage context but then revealed a most unexpected spatial, material, and aesthetic solution.
Maximising the site’s potential from boundary to boundary and basement to first floor provides a range of diverse and dynamic spaces that accommodate an extensive and complex programme while maintaining privacy, calm, and direct connection to a variety of outdoor spaces.
Selected materials are led by the original house and morph into the steel and glass-block rear pavilion, flooded with light and screened from neighbours. Living spaces range from soaring double height to intimate basement. Natural light, filtered through glass blocks, skylights, and floor lights expands space and gives the house a dynamic, constantly changing experience connecting occupants with nature.
The dynamic spatial character of the house pivots around the kitchen, stair and courtyard – creating flow and interconnection, while retaining distinct living spaces.
This allows for each of us to individually cook, work, play or make – while keeping the sense that we are together as a family.