A Series of Conscious Connections – JJ House by Bokey Grant Architects
Reinstating the home’s original heritage resolve, JJ House fuses old and new, referencing and connecting time periods, crafted elements and an understanding of context. Bokey Grant Architects combinesa conscious restraint with a celebration of thresholds, expressing movement and an intentional connection to the surrounding green aspects.
Nestled in the inner west of Sydney’s CBD, JJ House sits in the lushy green area of Lilyfield amongst similar vintage homes. Originally built in the 1920s, the home was designed as part of Durrell’s Estate as a freestanding brick workers cottage, however the likely story of ill-conceived additions and amendments, together with the effects of time, saw many of the original details removed. As a re-enlivening exercise, the new works encapsulate both the old and the new and bring them together with a renewed sense of purpose and clarity. At the heart of the new works is a reconnection to the home and its original intentions and sees the proposal of an extension that considerately connects the existing with the site, through an understanding of context. Bokey Grant Architects references the existing and proposes a revised addition that offers a sense of balance, carefully hemming the heritage with the contemporary.
Through a reinstating of the original formality, and the inclusion of appropriate fittings, fixtures and detailing, the home’s original elements respond to the intended architecture and the new works offer a counterbalance.
Built by Heath Millard and Andrew Connell, JJ House sees engineering by SDA Structures and the removal of an asbestos extension to make way for a modern cohesive approach. Through a reinstating of the original formality, and the inclusion of appropriate fittings, fixtures and detailing, the home’s original elements respond to the intended architecture and the new works offer a counterbalance. The approach is one grounded on restraint and that is about introducing new elements with caution, to ensure the flow of the old into the new with ease. Key connections to the surrounding landscape become integral to linking both eras to the site and ensuring the home comes together as one cohesive space. The new references the old through the use of the previous datum line, but switches the finish above and below to offer a subtle and textural inference of time.
Drawing in natural light, while also retaining existing features and openings and proportions, results in a considered approach. Initiating the transition between old and new is a portal type doorway that acts as the threshold, expressing the junction. Retaining the home’s initial small footprint, the overall new footprint sits just under 110sqm and sees three bedrooms, a bathroom and laundry and a deliberately generous and connected living, dining and kitchen space all come together with purpose. The approach to materiality acts as an extension of the home’s slightness, offering a minimal palette and a simplified and humble approach to joinery, heightened through the included refined details.
JJ House extends and reorients the heritage bones inherited and realigns its original character with an expanded and considered contemporary sense of purpose. Bokey Grant Architects encourages natural light inward, creates meaningful connections with site and extends the important original heritage of the home through subtle and considered gestures, ensuring the resulting home can endure.
