Completing the Circle – House Flower by Berresford Architecture
After an extensive engagement working through various feasibility options, House Flower has been opened upward and outward to capture curated views to the surrounds. Berresford Architecture guided a passionate client in optimising the existing conditions and crafting an addition that realises the home’s previously unmet potential.
Originally built in the 1970s, House Flower retains the original weighted stability of its brick construction and opens up to the surrounds by way of a considered addition. Ensuring an intentional engagement with the landscape, the new works carefully guide the eye outward and upward, rethinking the traditional approach to glazing and connections. Instead of focusing on large spanning, full-height glass as a means to connect to the outdoors, the approach is based on internal functionality and an alignment with eye height when seated or standing. The refreshing methodology ensures a unique home emerges, while still retaining the essence of its origins. Berresford Architecture draws on the solid nature of the home and proposes a counterbalance that sits light and open on site.
As a close and collaborative process, House Flower was conceived through an engagement early on in the process, between builder Build by Design, client and architect. Analysing a number of options as potential homes and their opportunities for improvement, the team settled on this brick home, due to the structural stability and integrity of its existing bones. Located in Como, the mixing of an existing robustness with an introduced lightness responds to the needs of its energetic family. In its leafy surrounds, the aim was to bring a reminder of that character into the experience of the home, which the previously small and restrictive openings didn’t allow.
To the rear, a wedge-shaped form opens upward, and captures the morning sun, while also creating opportunities for the dappled light through the trees to enter and animate the interiors. The bands of glazing ensure the views internally aren’t looking directly into or at neighbours and instead draw the focus internally. From the street, the home appears untouched, with the addition stealthy tucked in behind. The white painted brick structure then morphs into a white painted timber shingle-clad structure, maintaining the width of the original. A similar monochromatic approach is brought internally, with white paint and light filled spaces grounded by the warmth of a shared timber floor throughout.
