An Industrial Nod – Turn House by Rebecca Naughtin Architect

Animating its engagement with the streetscape, Turn House sees the transformation of an existing Victorian-era home into a playful and light-filled series of volumes. Rebecca Naughtin Architect pay homage to the existing and diverse layers of the combined industrial and residential area, to propose a home that fuses sensibilities of both.

Sitting amongst a similar eclectic fusion of residential and industrial insertions in Fitzroy North, Turn House expresses its past through newly crafted gestures. As one of many similar Victorian era homes nestled into the dense layers of the area, the home sits between its history as a rowed workers cottage from a bygone era making a significant contribution to the preservation of the area and its architectural past, and a want to create a comfortable and contemporary family home. The familiar story of limited access to natural light is addressed through the introduction of generously proportioned new steel and glass doors and windows, while still maintaining elements of the home’s heritage from the outside. Rebecca Naughtin Architect bring notions of the home’s past, reinterpreted through a relevant lens, to propose an extension to the home’s narrative.

As a way to bring a refined lightness to the home, large steel glass windows are used to bring light in and create a connection with the rear courtyard.

Built by Clancy Constructions, together with engineering by AM-A Consulting Engineer, at its core Turn House is founded on the handmade. From the fired red bricks that front the home, through to the moderately proportioned windows and timber floors. The previous story of the home was one of humble craft, and its latest iteration is one that aims to continue that momentum. The new elements are approached from a place of restraint, while also keeping with the original intent and humility. As a way to bring a refined lightness to the home, large steel glass windows are used to bring light in and create a connection with the rear courtyard. The steel offers a connection to the previous factories in the area, where those who lived in the original home may have worked.

As the rear brick corner intersects with the bluestone laneway, a new expression emerges, appearing circular as the brickwork turns the corner. Its tactile texture is further emphasised through a playful ripple in the laying technique. Internally that same turned brick is painted white in contrast, and as an extension of the light and contemporary home, ensuring the efforts across the site feel connected. The infusion of character is brought inward, while the home’s galley kitchen and its white pâtissier’s marble benchtop recreates an arena for creation and creativity and becomes its own moment within the home.

The infusion of character is brought inward, while the home’s galley kitchen and its white pâtissier’s marble benchtop recreates an arena for creation and creativity and becomes its own moment within the home.

Within the rear laneway it finds itself, Rebecca Naughtin Architect have reengaged Turn House with its surrounds, connecting through its own elemental features and carving its own presence in the process.