The Familiar Meets the Unexpected– O’Grady by Whiting Architects
Within its restricted envelope, O’Grady proposes a balanced play on concealing and revealing through the intersection of deliberately scaled volumes. Whiting Architects combines an appropriate response to context with blurred thresholds between inside and out.
Nestled into Melbourne’s inner south, O’Grady sits comfortably amongst the neighbourhood of heritage and contemporary homes. Through an acute sensitivity to context, the home is welcomed in its locale while also carving its own personal identity and personality. The new works see the renovation and insertion of elements into the existing building as well as the addition of an extension to the rear, maintaining the original silhouette and streetscape. Through an opening of the home to its landscape, the line between inside and out becomes blurred.
The interiors, designed in collaboration with Carole Whiting Interiors, plays down the differences between the existing and the new elements. A cohesive approach sees detail elements from the original carried through to the new. Disguising doors and transitions behind panelled walls, and through the integration of large sliding elements, areas can be closed off or opened up accordingly. This ability to transform the home and its interior zones based on use and functionality then underpins its program and resulting flexibility.
Whiting Architects combines an appropriate response to context with blurred thresholds between inside and out.
The use of muted tones throughout creates a base foundation for dotted bursts of colour and personality. This neutral tonality of warm timber, greys and textures creates an atmosphere of calm, in keeping with the original. Expressing the entire vaulted space internally, a feeling of vast spaciousness is achieved. The attic space is then inserted into the original roof cavity, where purposefully positioned and curated views peek out over the neighbourhood. These elements allow for a connection to the tree canopies and sky, while also providing a sense of privacy concurrently.
Deeply imbued with the comfortable and the familiar, O’Grady is a response to a considered brief. Through a variety of mechanisms and interventions, elements within the home can be revealed and concealed, creating a constantly dynamic resolve. The combined boldness of some elements sits comfortably against the more conventional and the known, where the contrast only accentuates and binds its comprising parts. Through scale, materiality and texture, the project achieves a rare timelessness.
