This project was about making the most of a small intervention. Even though the renovation at Julius Street only added 10 square metres, the change was substantial. Our clients, Lara and Eddy, enjoy cooking and gardening, so we focused our response accordingly.
The original house was a double fronted brick home from the post-war period. The layout was typical of the time, and wasn’t encouraging of Lara and Eddy’s growing family. The kitchen faced south-east, cut off from natural light, and was disconnected from the rear courtyard, which could only be accessed through the laundry.
Our idea was to connect the heart of the house to the garden. This was achieved by pushing the kitchen and dining space from the rear of the house into the area occupied by the old laundry, which was housed in a lean-to attached to the rear of the dwelling. This connected Eddy, always outside through his love of gardening, with Lara, whose passion for cooking kept her in the kitchen. It also reorientated the kitchen and dining spaces to the north, offering better access to natural light and a direct access to the rear courtyard.
This was our first project using BINQ windows, Australian made and manufactured double glazed windows. We did so with a three metre long sliding door that opens up the dining area to the courtyard, the frames of which act as a structural element. This enabled us to float a thin roof over two large expanses of glass, immersing the kitchen into the garden, which was also extended right up to the edge of the house.
We also used SIPS, an innovative and new product in Australia, which we previously used in our Five Yards House. The combination of SIPS and BINQ enabled a really rapid first stage of building, the completion of which took a matter of days rather than weeks.
