Refined Juxtaposition – Helenslea by MGAO

Helenslea sees Melbourne-based MGAO create a bold yet complementary juxtaposition between an original 1940s bungalow and a sleek new addition.

The owners of the original California bungalow-style home approached architects MGAO with a brief that called for a modern living space, somewhere to carry out their daily domestic activities that was flexible enough to accommodate groups of up to 60 for regular social gatherings.

Taking the bungalow’s material palette of cedar shingles and white masonry as a cue, architects MGAO designed a new addition with a glazed base and a floating upper storey adorned in vertical cedar slats.

Located on a leafy street in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield, the original home is notable for its asymmetrical design as well as its interesting material palette of cedar shingles and white masonry. Taking the bungalow’s material palette as a cue, the architects designed a new addition with a glazed base and a floating upper storey adorned in vertical cedar slats. This new addition provides malleable entertaining and living spaces for the clients in a contemporary style that brings the original home into the modern day.

The architects envisioned the upper storey of the addition as a treehouse, detached from the original house and floating above the lower level living room.

The glazed lower storey contrasts starkly with the chunky masonry of the original home, which has a strong sense of enclosure. However, the lines of the two levels are connected through a hint of white visible through the vertical timber slats of the addition’s upper storey, creating a sense of visual unity.

Inside the lower floor of the addition, a built-in floating bench seat echoes the materiality and form of the island in the adjoining kitchen, with its Negresso Granite top.

The architects envisioned the upper storey of the addition as a treehouse, detached from the original house and floating above the lower level living room. The addition is also closely connected to the surrounding garden through the glazed walls and the use of bluestone crazy paving that carries through from outdoors to indoors. Inside the lower floor of the addition, a built-in floating bench seat echoes the materiality and form of the island in the adjoining kitchen, with its Negresso Granite top. The outer masonry walls of the bungalow are unapologetically visible between the new and original spaces, lending a sense of history and a hint of an industrial aesthetic.

A light-filled and subtly textured new master bedroom and ensuite is encased in the treehouse-like upper floor of the extension. A veranda, with light filtered through the vertical cedar slats, provides a private and elevated outdoor area and also allows for passive cooling. With subtle connections between old and new, especially in terms of materiality and form, MGAO has created an addition that both complements and transforms the original bungalow, readying it for the rigours of modern life.