Considered Opening – Victoria House by AD Design Develop

Infusing a generosity into a Spanish-mission villa-style home, Victoria House is opened to the landscape, carving new and meaningful connections in the process. AD Design Develop focuses on optimising orientation to fill the home with natural light and increase an overall sense of scale internally.

Due to the restrictive size of the site, Victoria House and its ground floor plan, which had been heavily adjusted over the years, was already pushed to its limit. At the time of the design process, the rear landscaping and insertion of a pool was already well underway, leaving a limited footprint to work with. In response to the need for additional floor space, the decision was made to expand upward, adding a second level to allow the family to breathe. In keeping with the original stylings of the home, AD Design Develop focused on creating and enhancing connections to the natural elements and continuing a refinement of detail found in the original.

While tying old to new remains a core focus amongst the new works, so too does ensuring an openness that reflects a contemporary liveability.

In expanding the home, it is the infusion of an overall sense of internal generosity that underpins the approach. Through an interplay with light, the architecture becomes altered subtly throughout the day and becomes enlivened as a result. Allowing for and facilitating these interactions was key to the design. While tying old to new remains a core focus amongst the new works, so too does ensuring an openness that reflects a contemporary liveability. In response, the addition and reconfiguration of the floor plan allows for the creation of an open and shared living and kitchen zone that spills out into the landscaped areas.

Located on a narrow allotment, enhancing connections between the interior and the surrounding landscape was imperative. While the previous and formal separation of the original home and its amendments over the years does overlay a formality to the planning, ultimately the new works are focused on openness. Curved details carry forward, with arched windows inserted as a nod to the original Spanish-mission stylings of the home, and deep window seats allowing for an occupation within the architecture itself.

Curved details carry forward, with arched windows inserted as a nod to the original Spanish-mission stylings of the home, and deep window seats allowing for an occupation within the architecture itself.

Despite its slightness, Victoria House is opened to the landscape and its northern aspect to allow the home to breathe and optimise natural ventilation and sunlight. In overlaying a cohesive approach, AD Design Develop binds the old and new and increases a sense of internal flow not previously present on the narrow site.