An Innovative Approach – Fitzroy North House 02 by Rob Kennon Architects

Bathed in natural light and immersed in its garden, Fitzroy North House 02 reinterprets the residential condition. Rob Kennon Architects combines the atypical and the refined to propose a contemporary home that sits respectfully within its inherited structure.

Set unassumingly behind its recreated heritage-looking workers-cottage façade, the internal formality sees Fitzroy North House 02 emerge as a light-drenched family home that opens to both its site and the elements. As a reinterpretation of the typical approach to extending and renovating such traditional cottages, this is an example that examines both the macro and micro elements and reassembles them in an unexpected way. By applying an overall masterplan approach, instead of being constrained by the limits of the original cottage and site Rob Kennon Architects has created a nuanced engagement with the natural and encouraged light inward. The diffusion of thresholds between in and out is further reinforced through the operable and extensive glazed elements.

Built by Ben Thomas Builder, with engineering by Meyer Consulting, the home sits neatly concealed behind its recreated facade, not interrupting the heritage Fitzroy North streetscape. Preserving the original silhouette of the home, the façade is screened by thin timber vertical pieces that mirror the geometry of the bounding fence. Providing a sense of privacy from within, the application creates a contemporary veil as the first engagement with the home. The house is comprised of two parts. The first is where the bounding walls connect to each neighbour, as well as the recreation of the front facade, verandah and roof structure. The second exists beyond this, where through the slatted timber entrance door an unexpected external corridor is revealed as one walks past the guest bedroom and studio spaces into the main hub of the home.

Imagined as a series of spaces that engage directly with the garden, the close collaboration with Eckersleys Garden Architecture sees a naturally occurring and purpose-driven design materialise. As a two-storey mass, the home elevates upward to match an existing boundary wall with the main portion of the home located centrally, flanked by gardens. The communal area, where the kitchen, living and dining areas converge, is located within the garden, with large skylight openings above and cross-ventilation carefully integrated into the design to create a fresh and amiable space. The materiality speaks to the utilitarian approach applied both inside and out, where surfaces seem to project and continue from within the home out into the garden. The resulting palette sees timber, brick, cement sheet and galvanised steel used in similar applications externally as internally as encased spaces spill outward.

North Fitzroy House 02 rejects the traditional and instead proposes a more lived (and living) approach. Rob Kennon Architects reimagines a contemporary home within heritage constraints and from an initial idea, creates an innovative home that sits comfortably within its garden.