House in the City | James Allen Architect
Designed for a retiring couple leaving the country, the House in the City is a reimagining of the archetypal Adelaide villa. The heritage zoned house was extremely run down, with a leaky roof, rising damp, subsiding footings, cracked walls, family of resident possums and overgrown garden.
The alterations and additions, designed by the couple’s architect son, was organised around a new internal courtyard, defining the old and new parts of the house.
A new pavilion accommodating the living areas across the back of the house is a modern interpretation of the villa with its Dutch-gable roof and masonry construction. There are spaces that both blur and bridge the inside with the outside as well as the new with the old.
The transformative project breathes new life into the dilapidated old house and is a balancing act between continuity and change.