Barry by Zen Architects

Beyond the picket fence and iron lacework of a Victorian cottage, a contemporary yet cohesive architectural intervention has been designed to cater to the spatial requirements of a modern family.

Though the homeowners adored their existing home, they had a list of practical requirements, honed over the previous eight years of living there, to present to Zen Architects. Topmost was a spatial program that would allow for a productive office environment for the work-from-home couple, followed by easier connections to the outdoors for their children. Working with a 100-year-old building, they also wanted to improve the passive qualities of the home through new insulation and to upgrade the wiring, all while ensuring the home remained at one with the historic leafy streetscape.

Using the volume of an extension that had been added sometime before the couple bought the home, the architects designed a mezzanine office space, accessible via a spiral staircase from the redesigned open-plan living space below.

Using the volume of an extension that had been added sometime before the couple bought the home, the architects designed a mezzanine office space, accessible via a spiral staircase from the redesigned open-plan living space below. A change in the pitch of the roof here allowed for a rooftop garden, creating a moment of natural connection upstairs, while below a landscaped deck behind glazed, timber-framed doors adds verdant colour to the Scandinavian style of the living space.

This open-plan room has a number of unique architectural details, including a deep window seat in the lounge that cantilevers over the garden beyond and an angular design on the sides of the kitchen island that reflects the monopitch roofline. Rich timber on the ceiling and floors seem to bookend the white walls of the space, lending clean lines, while a country home feel is created through the addition of a shelf that runs the length of the kitchen bench, providing space for recipe books and ceramics.

Subdued blues, greens and pinks lend softness to the bedrooms and bathrooms at the front of the home, aiding in bringing out the heritage detailing in the door frames and fireplace surrounds.

Subdued blues, greens and pinks lend softness to the bedrooms and bathrooms at the front of the home, aiding in bringing out the heritage detailing in the door frames and fireplace surrounds. While the insulation and wiring were improved, floors were also refinished to enhance the natural beauty of the original Baltic pine.

With the double-height volume of the living room and new connections to landscaped nooks injecting plenty of daylight into the centre of the plan, this is now a timelessly beautiful home that encourages easy flow between indoors and out.

Architecture by Zen Architects. Build by Natural Build. Landscape Design by Josh Norman Landscapes.