Instilling Memory – Signalman’s Quarters by 1+2 Architecture

Combining multiple additions and revisions, Signalman’s Quarters embraces the essence of its significant past. 1+2 Architecture optimises outlook and positioning to instil memory whilst injecting considered and restorative meaning into the new.

 Signalman’s Quarters, located in Battery Point, sits amongst the historic remnants of Hobart’s past. Its combined restoration and extension efforts brings historical elements forward into a current relevance, all while ensuring the memory of its past is both firmly visible and felt. Originally built in 1853, the weighted stone structure had received multiple amendments over time, all of which were in need of cohesion. Through a lens of clarity and a respectful focus on heritage, 1+2 Architecture carved a new home of purpose that focusses on the familiar comfort of its heritage and utilises contemporary approaches of sustainable design principles to ensure a continued relevance.

New elements encourage an absorbing of sunlight and an open embrace of the surrounding natural elements.

Signalman’s Quarters was the original home to the signalman of Mulgrave Battery – ensuring that reminder remained in place was key to the design. With the many iterations and additions to the home needing to be incorporated, the thick sandstone walls were restored as the foundation for the next built chapter. Built by Delpero and Clements Builders, the surrounding timber outbuildings and their significance were used as musings for the materiality and palette that followed, binding all the elements on site. The home was reoriented, allowing for the addition of a connected contemporary kitchen and living area, supported by appropriate service amenity spaces. New elements encourage an absorbing of sunlight and an open embrace of the surrounding natural elements.

As an interpretation of the existing forms, abstracted insertions reference the past and are used to express a uniqueness on site. Bringing together histories, recycled materials are utilised as an extension of that focus while also reducing waste and embodied energy where possible. The resulting home achieves a 6+ star energy rating, with a focus on passive solar energy and a heavy incorporation of the existing structure. Fronting the home, the verandah is reconstructed to formalise the entry and the façade while also re-establishing a sense of arrival. The reinterpreted semaphore mast, taking form in the shape of the expressed chimney element, accommodates a series of subtle imprints of telegraphic signals, further embedding meaning and a connection to the past.

Fronting the home, the verandah is reconstructed to formalise the entry and the façade while also re-establishing a sense of arrival.

Through a sensitive and subtle approach, Signalman’s Quarters becomes a performing contemporary version of its former self, as 1+2 Architecture embraces opportunity and furthers lineage.