Elgin Street Residence

by Sonelo Architects

The Elgin Street Residence by Sonelo Architects is a serene suite tailored for predominantly lone occupation yet effortlessly flexible for visiting family.

Located on a compact inner city lot, this worn single storey Victorian-era terrace duplex is bordered by a busy street at the front and a pitched blue stone lane way at the rear. Its presence within the heritage streetscape is very much dwarfed amongst zero setback double storey terrace neighbors. The house was dearth of daylight and felt subterranean.

The brief was for an alteration addition to transform the home to be pragmatic for sole occupation but capable of accommodating visiting family. Located in a heritage precinct, preservation of the main house is prescribed restricting the volume that could be occupied by the new addition to the rear of the already tiny site.

An improbable fourth dimension was needed to not end up with a cramped house. The site conditions and the heritage constraint inspired a design where manipulating the sense of spaciousness becomes the epitome of the alteration addition.

Within the preserved part of the house, new full height cupboards are grafted onto the hallway wall of the two rooms, to define the entry experience with a brief compression in volume before the anticipated release into the room. The same gesture is echoed at the threshold between old and new by the flanking angled cupboards.

Two angled steel shrouded apertures pierce the north facade of the brick addition. Downstairs, it frames the courtyard. Upstairs, it releases the bedroom suite to a more distant view and screens overlooking onto neighboring house.

With its grey tinted mirror clad walls and dark-colored interior, the ground floor new kitchen dining impresses a perceived spaciousness, cleverly disguising the edge of the room, reflecting the courtyard greens, and discreetly hiding the bathroom.

Hung off the mirrored wall is the bespoke dining table slid-able with ease to make room for lounging on the timber floor, a custom practiced regularly by the client. The black folded steel stairs, lit atop and flanked by vertical timber batten baluster, ascend gracefully over the dining table to a light-filled bedroom suite upstairs.

The north south alignment of the fenestrations is crucial to ventilate the house on hot summer days by drawing cool breeze from the shaded lane way and venting through the courtyard. Therefore, the south facing monolithic brick wall is purposefully articulated with a set-back double hung window on upper level and a bespoke timber-battened door fitted with a solid inset leaf on lower level so ventilation does not have to come at the expense of security or privacy.

Necessary yet poetic, a new courtyard, planted with deciduous and evergreen varietals, is deftly placed before the new double storey addition providing a much-needed breathing space for privacy, daylight, greens and concealed services.

Situated adjacent to the laneway is the new double storey addition skinned in random bond pattern brick with flush perpend and raked mortar detailing allowing ones appreciation of the wall as a unison of rich yet subtle textures highlighted by the dappled hues.

Awards

ArchiTeam 2017 Awards Commendation Residential Alterations

Houses 2017 Awards Shortlist Alterations Additions under 200 sqm

Houses 2017 Awards Shortlist Heritage

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