Open Exchange – Union Street Residence by NTF Architecture

Creating a new address to both the street and the rear garden, Union Street Residence is an expansion of an Edwardian-era home. NTF Architecture increases the transparency of the existing and proposes a series of generous volumes that openly welcome an exchange with the landscape and natural light.

Set amongst other large-scaled homes in Armadale, in Melbourne’s south-east, Union Street Residence retains its original heritage form and expands to the rear and side to inject added volume and amenity. While the mass of the addition sits neatly behind the original, extruded in silhouette as the form grows deeper into the site, a lighter glazed and timber-wrapped form sits as a counter to the side. As its own statement and reflection of time, the addition sits as its own entity, not replicating the original stylings and instead capturing a contemporary spirit. As a family home, key to the addition was the creation of an open flexibility. Allowing a free-flowing movement internally, both between the old and new and between inside and out, NTF Architecture extends the crafted nature of the original into the addition.

A base palette of white and light-coloured stone and tiles reinforces a shared sense of calm.

As the new form attaches to the rear, large-spanning glazing and skylights bring natural light deep into the spaces. To ensure the existing parts of the home align and feel connected, additional openings in the roof and ceiling plane bring light into the front of the home. An overall muted approach in tonality ensures the interior feels connected. With oak flooring running both the old and new, a consistency binds the eras and adds an element of warmth and texture in the process. A base palette of white and light-coloured stone and tiles reinforces a shared sense of calm. In restoring the original and crafting the addition, the home continues in relevance and embeds a needed robustness to take the knocks of family life.

Built by Dome Building projects, together with landscape design by Peachy Green, the external approach also connects the old and new, with a more contrasting palette and similar rich tones. Acknowledging the extensive setback already in place at the front of the home, making this garden space habitable required new connections that open the form easily. The gesture then creates two separate garden spaces, both as destinations in themselves, one private to the rear and the other semi-private as it engages with the street.

As the new form attaches to the rear, large-spanning glazing and skylights bring natural light deep into the spaces.

Expanding upward into a two-storey addition, Union Street Residence becomes open and accommodating to its residents and readied for the years to come. Combing a boldness with moments of subtleties, NTF Architecture create a home that confirms its heritage presence and through the addition embeds a timelessness.