Avoiding the Ordinary – Edgevale House by Bryant Alsop Architects

Born from wanting to challenge the conventional and avoid a traditional approach, Edgevale House combines several geometric expressions through its expansion. Byrant Alsop Architects focuses on creating a unique series of gestures that individually capture the nuanced way that the home intends to be occupied.

As a restoration and expansion effort, Edgevale House sees the reinstatement of relevance to an existing Victorian-era home with the addition of a contemporary and connecting convening area to the rear. The challenge always remains in the fusing of the old and new, particularly when the existing is so highly detailed. In wanting to think and propose beyond the expected response, the client sought to ensure the history of the home remained respected and retained, while also ensuring that the new additional also spoke to how they uniquely live. Though there are commonalities that align in contemporary homes, it is the personal elements that make a house a home. Bryant Alsop Architects combines curved and linear elements across the site to break up the narrative of journey from one end to the other.

The open living, dining and kitchen space are all aligned around the open outdoor area, and through the use of curved elements sit separated in a way and yet feel connected at the same time.

Built by Martin Brothers Building, Edgevale House sits surrounded by other generously proportioned heritage homes in Kew. In preserving the original, the home plays an important part in contributing to the design language and lineage of the area. Ensuring the contemporary elements sat concealed behind the streetscape was key to continuing that narrative. The original three-bedroom home is retained, along with the bathrooms and formal sitting room, and are restored to ensure there is a natural connection throughout. The existing formal planning and its separation leads itself to a creation of zones, where grouping the more passive areas becomes obvious. The main intervention becomes the creation of a courtyard space that sits at the junction of the old and new.

In both bringing in natural light and access to ventilation in the process, the courtyard is a major design move that aims to change both the flow of the house and the openness. The open living, dining and kitchen space are all aligned around the open outdoor area and through the use of curved elements sit separated in a way and yet feel connected at the same time. The hugging of these areas around the central and open core adds another geometric approach to the mix and breaks up the ornateness of the front of the home. In being a more casual space, the open and connected nature is a matched fitting. Warm bricks and terracotta add textural depth, while the glazing and metal offer a sense of balance within the space.

Warm bricks and terracotta add textural depth, while the glazing and metal offer a sense of balance within the space.

Through defining its own softened approach, Edgevale House combines the regular and the curved to connect time and spaces and to funnel activity into the open areas while embracing the natural elements. Bryant Alsop Architects takes a nuanced and distinctive response to brief and site, crafting a genuine and unique family home as a result.