A Clear Contemporary Vision – Middle Park Residence by Matyas Architects

Opening and reinstating the previous Edwardian-era home, Middle Park Residence is extended upward and outward, making use of its restrictive site. Matyas Architects celebrates the existing heritage elements and injects a modern and natural clarity in realigning the home with sound contemporary living principles.

Embracing its past, the principles underpinning Middle Park Residence reinforce a connection to time and the home’s inception, while most prominently focusing on the present. Through a series of clear and refined principles around connecting to the natural, the resulting home allows the original elements to be expressed, while the new and more modern interpretation of residential life outlines the way the home is used. In its location, the home sits straddling two bluestone laneways, as a semi-detached single-fronted home. Its traditional façade and adornment in warm materiality, timber detailing and terracotta roof tiles all offer inspiration for the expanded volume to come. In bringing the old and new together, Matyas Architects binds the eras together through a shared approach to texture, warmth and openness

In bringing the old and new together, Matyas Architects binds the eras together through a shared approach to texture, warmth and openness.

Built by Warwick Construction, with joinery by Planera and landscaping by Le Page Design, Middle Park Residence is conceived from a holistic approach, aiming to make the most of its site. Despite its narrow allotment, the home stretches lengthways and its proximity to an open laneway provides further encouragement to engage beyond the bounding walls. The original fronting two rooms are retained and have been refreshed through restorative works, as well as the original roof. The remainder then was cleared, making way for the contemporary additions to take hold.

The new works ensure the internal feels cohesive and allows the old to flow effortlessly into the new. To the rear, the double storey addition wraps up to the new additional rooms and rooftop terrace, with its faceted form offering a dynamic and moulded sculpture to the laneway it looks over. Materiality and a shared sense of warmth connect the old and new, with the new elements interpreted through metal sheeting, as a modern offering to its previous textural terracotta. Internally, quality of light, its engagement with the architecture and how the home feels, is emphasised through openings that connect to the landscape and the natural, encouraging a dialogue between the two.

Materiality and a shared sense of warmth connect the old and new, with the new elements interpreted through metal sheeting, as a modern offering to its previous textural terracotta.

Through a muted palette and a focus on the natural, Middle Park Residence brings elements of the home’s past together with its present. Through the opening up to curated landscaped settings, Matyas Architects makes full use of an otherwise narrow and restrictive site.