Grounded Sensitivity – Gascoigne by Lucy Clemenger Architects
Soft and grounded, Gascoigne holds a presence that captures both the past and present and readies the home as a sanctuary of calm. Lucy Clemenger Architects proposes a series of bonds between the previous handcrafted approach of the residence and the new insertions, presenting the house as an evolution of the previous iteration.
Set among similar-era residences, Gascoigne is located in Malvern East and sees the bridging of the home’s old and new iterations through a considerate lens. Spread across two levels, clear connections out toward the surrounding landscape became key to the experience of the home. Creating a relationship between the architecture and the softer natural quality of the landscape creates moments of relief and reprieve. Lucy Clemenger Architects has created an introspective and meditative home that feels both generous and vastly proportioned from within.
A combination of steel, glass and concrete, the contemporary and linear form is created to bind the old and new. The sense of permanence and solidity created through the materiality connects the home to place and curved elements hint at a more fluid and flowing movement across the site. While the original home was designed and built in the 1890s, the addition needed to tie in the needs of a contemporary brief within the original crafted and handmade approach. By selecting and applying specialised and detailed finishes, joinery and masonry work, the result feels like a natural extension of the existing.
Establishing a connection to the surrounding environment, a courtyard space celebrates the old and new elements of the home while integrating a natural touch. A soft and muted palette is used throughout the home, inspired and formed from references to Australian flora. A thoughtfulness around how the home’s efficient functionality then aligns differing levels of passivity and openness. With the new shared living space acting as a key reflection of a contemporary home, its presence also acts to pull people together while private areas sit recessively.
A soft and muted palette is used throughout the home, inspired and formed from references to Australian flora.
By emphasising the complementary nature of the differing time periods in the home’s chapters, Gascoigne becomes a layered and richly formed home. Lucy Clemenger Architects overlays a new modality that brings the focus to the home’s convivial spirit.
