Warmly Expanded – Aija’s Place by Curious Practice

Establishing a cohesive relationship between architecture and landscape, Aija’s Place combines a treasured and established garden with the built elements to ensure a meaningful connection to place. Curious Practice elicits a sensitive approach in weaving the new and old elements across the site, ensuring an approachable materiality and textural binding throughout.

Situated with views out toward Lake Macquarie, Aija’s Place sees the expansion of an already light-footed home to better embrace the surrounds. As an avid lover of her garden, the additions and opening up of Aija’s home was intended to create a better alignment across the site for herself and animals. Whilst the addition is contained within a mere five square metres of additional floor area, the impact on the residence is immense, highlighting the effect that minor changes can have. By replanning the original structure to support a revised functionality, the home is then more naturally ventilated and illuminated. Curious Practice devises a series of curated interventions to ensure the existing fabric is reworked instead of destroyed.

Curious Practice devises a series of curated interventions to ensure the existing fabric is reworked instead of destroyed.

Avoiding the need to demolish and rebuild, the embodied energy already within the home is repurposed to integrate a more contemporary liveability. Maintaining views out to the lake was important. The increased access to the terrace allows the space to become its own destination, whilst also bringing in an abundance of natural air to passively cool the interior. To the rear, the overall form is extruded out to pull the main bedroom deeper into the site and immerse it within the landscape.

Although the existing home and its outer extents was already well established, by opening it up and aligning with optimal orientation, the architecture works as a functional entity to improve the wellness of the owner. A selection of low-cost materials and methodologies sees the home reworked, yet the same sense of warmth of the original home remains. Whilst the detailing differs between the old and new, the combination of timber and a muted dichromatic base binds the home. Balancing dark and light elements, the kitchen feels anchored in place through a deep tonality, whilst the outer elements of the home are lighter, inviting the natural elements in.

A selection of low-cost materials and methodologies sees the home reworked, yet the same sense of warmth of the original home remains.

A crafted sum of its parts, Aija’s Place comes together through an adaptable lens. Curious Practice overlays a personal expression among the more rigid elements and maintains a consistent outward focus throughout the home to the landscape.