A Wrapping Embrace – Clovelly House by Mary Ellen Hudson Architects
Opening out to embrace its generous siting, Clovelly House sees the transformative expansion of its previous self, taking full advantage of its prosperous aspects. Maintaining and adding to the existing building, Mary Ellen Hudson Architects brings a welcomed sense of clarity to the disparate site, expressed through wrapping and sweeping gestures.
Located one street back from the cliff edge at Clovelly, the same-named home sits perched and connected to the nearby ocean. On its steeply sloping site, the previous structure sat dormant and ill-connected to its surrounding context. The extension and new works aim to bring purpose and a curated intent in how the architecture responds to the landscape, elevating the experience of the home and further defining its identity. Through several reconfiguring gestures, the existing structure was kept and realigned to allow an opening series of volumes. These volumes sweep across the site and encourage a sense of flow between inside and out, attuning to the essence of Sydney life. Mary Ellen Hudson Architects accentuated the width of the almost double-width site and, in the process, transformed the home in grandeur, embracing the nearby natural elements.
As a close collaboration, and as an expression of the dissolving traditional thresholds, Clovelly House was built by Kilbri Building together with Ballast Landscape. Acting as a series of outdoor rooms themselves, the landscape and its engagement with the built form was crucial. Previously, the site was occupied by a bungalow home of regular and modest proportions – a decision to either incorporate or demolish was required. Deciding to keep, the old was engulfed within the new and kept for its solid construction and durability. Looking to the nearby climatic conditions, an ingrained stability was needed to ensure an anchoring to the site. The motion of the ocean, however, was then seen as inspiration for the introduced sweeping elements and the resulting concrete geometry.
The interplay between the built form and the garden is crucial to the home and how it operates. The new mass added – perforating access to the natural – allows for visual and ventilated flow. The sweeping motion takes form in the architectural articulation of the addition, where the openings and an introduction of a pool all wrap around connected and open areas. Steps articulate the slope and further accentuate the unique landscape, connected through expressed form. While concrete and glass are prominent elements for their endurance and permeability, recycled redwood and stone further adds texture and visual variation
While the increase of the existing sees Clovelly House amass as a generous and openly connected home, Mary Ellen Hudson Architects carefully masks the addition from the street. The home’s subtlety becomes its own concealed secret for its owners.
