Recessive Expression – Wattletree House by Design by AD

As a welcomed addition to its Malvern East surrounds, Wattletree House retains its important heritage connections, responding to place and past through a more contemporary lens. Design by AD ensures a modern relevance is embedded into the home through an expansion of open and connected living areas, and key openings encourage a flow of movement between inside and out.

Both old and new elements sit contrasting and deliberate across the site, opting to express differences rather than blurring the transitions and junctions between differing eras. The result allows the home to celebrate both what has come before and what is yet to come. Retaining the nods to a red brick Edwardian style was a key and distinguishing part of the home’s façade. A more recessive dark toned addition is then nestled into the rear.

Both old and new elements sit contrasting and deliberate across the site, opting to express differences rather than blurring the transitions and junctions between differing eras.

Spread over multiple levels, Design by AD’s Wattletree House proposes a low height skillion roof form that tucks neatly into the existing structure, creating a more fluid series of connections that ensure the volumes of the ground level remain uninterrupted. Bringing elements of the original into the new, a similar palette is used throughout the residence. Timber adds warmth, injects a touch of the natural and connects to the original flooring of the home to overlay a cohesive approach. On the ground level, the planning is divided by a centrally located staircase that divides and marks the transition between the existing and the new and overlooks a glazed connection to an outdoor courtyard space. Bringing light into the centre of the home, this moment marks the point of stylistic change within the home.

Among the new works is a desire to enhance the liveability of the home while preserving the existing structure. By creating generous spaces that open to the landscape, cross ventilation naturally cools the home, while optimised orientation to natural light also ensures a better alignment for solar gains and heat control across the seasons. With an already established landscape in place to the front of the home, the new works needed to bring that same rigor into the rear and create new destinations both within the home and in the garden.

Among the new works is a desire to enhance the liveability of the home while preserving the existing structure.

Establishing a foundation for a young family, Wattletree House is readied with an embedded robustness. Design by AD has ensured a continued legacy, instilling a welcomed connectedness through which the owners can connect with each other and the site.