Expanding Principles – Bungalow 8 House by Splinter Society
Expanding on the previously ingrained generosity of the home, Bungalow 8 House sees the carrying through of principles of spatial connectivity and comfort from the old into the new. Splinter Society forms a base founded on sustainable and affordable interventions, proposing a home of warmth and familiarity.
Tucked into Melbourne’s north, Bungalow 8 House is located in Coburg amongst similar scaled homes. As an alteration and addition to an existing bungalow, the revised home reaches out further into the rear yard and engages more deliberately with its landscape, bringing the natural inward. An embrace of the original spatial features and generosity internally is then carried through into the new, drawing on the original proportions, setbacks and textural expressions. Through a respectful lens, the new is explored with a sensitivity of scale and form and responds with a sustainable and affordably focused approach. Splinter Society embeds familiar comfort, while carving an appropriate and outwardly connected intervention amongst the existing.
Built by Homes by Artisan, Bungalow 8 House opens up to the north and through a study of orientation, sees the living spaces repositioned to optimise access to natural light and ventilation. While the existing free-flowing feel of the original home is retained, and in particular in gest to the original wide central corridor of the bungalow style, a similar openness connects between the two eras and allows a respectful engagement across time. A palette of robust materials sees concrete underfoot and timber encase the walls and parts of the ceiling, while custom joinery creates storage opportunities, ensuring uninterrupted lines. In reusing the existing, less waste is created, and the formality of the bedrooms positioned in the original part of the home act as a separating datum between the existing and the new.
Expanding out from that central datum, a new triangular form expands out and opens to embrace the elements and reorient north. The formal insertion then frames views and simplifies extension as one extruded form. Scale becomes an integral part of the story of the home, with warming materiality and texture adding a variety and bringing the natural element into the home. Retaining a sense of the familiar and original proportions further reinforces the connection between the old and new and allows an effortless flow. Bringing in natural light from curated directions, the home becomes illuminated throughout the day, while the open and connected feel of the new living space becomes a pull of its occupants to live connected.
