Constantly in Motion – South Yarra House by Pop Architecture & Beatrix Rowe

Drawing inspiration from its Edwardian-era origins, South Yarra House opens to embrace natural light, celebrating the subtleties of the curve. Pop Architecture and Beatrix Rowe carefully sculpt a purposeful extension and renovation, embedding a crafted approach and encouraging an interplay with surrounding natural elements.

Sitting amongst an array of similar era homes, South Yarra House is located in the same-named area in Melbourne’s south. Breathing new life into the Edwardian beauty, the restoration of its original character was an integral part of the continued narrative of the home, while the new addition proposed the foundations for its next chapter. Looking to the past as its muse, the extension borrows elements of refinement and craft to carry forward a new series of spaces through a contemporary lens. Sitting at the rear of the restored home, the addition opens generously to the rear garden and courtyard space, while a rooftop terrace sits atop as an extension to the prized outdoor greenspace. Pop Architecture in collaboration with Beatrix Rowe focus on a heightened engagement with natural light to animate the resulting home, carving apertures throughout to allow light to fall deep into the interior spaces.

Following a brief to remain light, flowing and respectful of the existing features, the home deftly welcomes the natural.

Built by Cloverleigh Home Improvements, together with landscape design by Amanda Oliver Gardens, South Yarra House is founded on a considered efficiency. While the use of large spanning glazed elements aims to diffuse the boundary of the built edge, the new is intended to sit in harmonious balance with the original. Throughout, subtle curves offer an element of the unexpected and add a point of difference from other modern approaches. Curved plaster and routed and smooth stone are their own testaments to the artisan and a hand-led approach. The interaction between these elements and the incoming light then adds a sculptural addition to the home, while clerestory overhead acts as the transition point between the old and the new.

Emphasising an openness, the original central corridor is met with a shared living, dining and kitchen space. Following a brief to remain light, flowing and respectful of the existing features, the home deftly welcomes the natural. An emphasis on quality materiality and finishes ensures the spaces will endure, while also further anchoring the addition in place. There is an embedded calm in the intersection between the restrained approach to palette and the refined framework that separates the interior from the exterior spaces.

Curved plaster and routed and smooth stone are their own testaments to the artisan and a hand-led approach.

As an engaged and open series of spaces, South Yarra House changes throughout the day and across the seasons in reaction to the incoming climatic conditions and its position on its site. Pop Architecture and Beatrix Rowe have ensured the home will never feel static but, rather, constantly in motion.