The Mini Terrace – Cardigan Place Residence by MA Architects

Situated in a narrow gap beside a Victorian heritage family home in Melbourne’s south, Cardigan Place is a self-contained dwelling designed to support multi-generational living. Carving its own typology of a ‘mini terrace’, the project sees MA Architects’ sensitivity to heritage interpreted through a contemporary lens, proposing an integrated and considered spatial solution to extending the building’s original bones.

Located in Albert Park, Cardigan Place Residence sits on a corner block in a gap left over between the main house and an adjoining Victorian terrace. The design bridges between the heritage of the main house and the contemporary nature of the new. The veiled extension was designed to turn the existing family home into a multi-generational living solution for its current owners, their adult children and grandchildren all under one existing (and extended) roof. The new building is its own typology – a ‘mini terrace’. MA Architects’ approach delivers a contemporary home which respects the heritage of the existing building through refined details and spatial manipulation.

The ‘mini-terrace’ fills the gap where a shop, long-since demolished, once stood. More recently, the site was occupied by an ill-fitting 1990s extension that did not speak to the Victorian terrace it was attached to. Now home to three generations, the existing house and the new extension are envisioned to operate as one living and connected mechanism. The brief for the extension expressed the need for a self-contained light filled, well ventilated dwelling, responsive to its site and aptly temperature controlled. Integrating and ensuring a level of low maintenance and storage was key, allowing the downsizing older generation to transition in lifestyle but not compromise on amenity. The utilisation of thermal mass for passive solar advantage, together with shading and the featured screening allows the home to capitalise on its site and orientation while reducing the energy footprint.

Located in Albert Park, Cardigan Place Residence sits on a corner block in a gap left over between the main house and an adjoining Victorian terrace.

Throughout, a restrained and familiar palette has been applied to create an enduring home. Polished concrete, painted plaster and muted plywood walls and joinery create the base, with pops of colour adding depth as one moves through the spaces. An expression of the owners’ personality, caterpillar green paint and matching mosaic tiles in the bathroom, together with the identifying and personable front door, add an element of surprise. Expressed as a double-height extraction of the heritage verandah, the overall form is softened by the metal veil screen. With its overlapping circular geometries, the addition echoes the lacework of the original home, and also provide a sense of privacy. The control of ventilation and dappling of sunlight also add to the experience and quality of light living within the home.

Cardigan Place Residence addresses both the contemporary and the heritage conditions with ease and brings them together cohesively. The muted and calming interior is the result of considered openings and accessing the site’s natural opportunities and orientation. MA Architects has optimised the site, and with a sense of refinement and understanding of existing heritage character elements proposed a sensitive and fitting resolve.

The design bridges between the heritage of the main house and the contemporary nature of the new.

MA Architects has optimised the site, and with a sense of refinement and understanding of existing heritage character elements proposed a sensitive and fitting resolve.