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Subtle Individuality – Clovelly House by Tribe Studio Architects
The alteration and addition to an existing semi-detached home, Clovelly House carves its own presence and captures a sense of place. Tribe Studio Architects utilises a subtle approach to open and encourage an engagement between the inside and out, embracing the Sydney outdoor lifestyle.
As a remnant of the area’s past, Clovelly House is one of many semi-detached homes proposed as two homes that deceptively take formation as one. From a time when the expression of the home was prioritised by the façade and its presence within the streetscape, the residual homes oppose the contemporary way of living, where a rigid formality presents a number of spatial challenges. In addressing this, Clovelly House opens to the rear and orients its key living and convening zones to the north on the upper level, capturing both available light and the surrounding views. Tribe Studio Architects s the traditional heritage housing model on itself through the renovation and restoration of an existing gem and, while retaining a sense of street presence, carves an individual persona, despite is shared bounding wall.
The strength of the overall form is retained but expressed in its own way, while still sitting respectfully appropriate alongside the existing.
As a collaboration between builders Ballast Construction, engineers Cantilever and landscape designers Bell Gardens, Clovelly House takes subtle references from the existing form and reinterprets them in the expansion works through a contemporary lens. The gable then becomes a formal cue that helps guide the new works, extruding backward and repeated on the upper level. The strength of the overall form is retained but expressed in its own way, while still sitting respectfully appropriate alongside the existing.
Relocating the living areas to the rear and elevating them to the upper level, the home opens to its lushly landscaped setting and to the vistas beyond. In close proximity to the coast, at the core of the works is an expression of connection, which sees a shared openness between the inside and out. An emphasis on lightness then guides the resulting palette and dedicated openings, with cues taken from the original board and batten style cladding. The resulting home exudes a light and bright sensibility, emphasised through skylight openings overhead, incorporation of the natural and the flooding of natural light inward. Light timber adds a warmth internally, providing a textural base underfoot, while still allowing a cohesive flow beyond the building envelope.
