Inspired by Craft – Malvern House by Kennedy Nolan

Malvern House is the result of replanning an Edwardian-era home to better suit and perform for its current custodians, while the crafted elements evident in the original home’s detailing provide the conduit through which Kennedy Nolan establishes the relationship between old and new.

Nestled in Malvern, in Melbourne’s inner south-east, the project is the conversion and reinvigoration of a stately period home on an enviably generous allotment. An Edwardian-era home, the formality and heightened internal spaces of the existing house offer a relief from its contemporaries and the detailed edifices and cornices are a reminder of a time of during which craft was celebrated. Yet the home was fraught with a myriad of challenges created by the stark shift in lifestyle that has occurred between the period in which it was built and the present day. To achieve the brief of its current custodians and renew the home’s relevance to contemporary living, a higher-level planning approach was adopted. Kennedy Nolan combines a rigorous approach with a celebration of context to propose a home that is undoubtedly contemporary, yet which also expresses a connection to era and craft.

Built by Building Makers, Malvern House highlights how the residential condition may be familiar while also steering away from the traditional and expected. To abate the rigid formality of the original home and to propose a more connected and accessible living experience, the home is reorientated to be entered from the side, opening up into the living space, which is the large, inviting core of the home. This alteration allows the front original home to remain intact and become the children’s bedrooms, establishing a sense of separation between these sleeping quarters and the living area. The previous extension was removed and a more fitting extrusion of the original home sits in its place – one that is less intrusive over the south-facing garden.

With close collaboration with landscape design by Amander Oliver Gardens, the extension is infiltrated with landscaped elements such as the planted roof, creating a feeling of connection to living greenery in all areas of the home. Deliberate plantings act as dividing and disguising walls, while the existing swimming pool was relined and an alternate approach to traditional pool fencing sees an outdoor pool zone delineated through oversized masonry walls and steel-framed glazed doors, creating an outdoor room.

Malvern House beautifully addresses its context and inserts elements that speak to and celebrate the home’s crafted past. Kennedy Nolan’s non-conventional approach creates unexpected and joyous moments that breathe a much-needed new life into the period home.