Softly Immersive – Wendy House by Ha Architecture

Extending the legacy of the original character and charm of the home, Wendy House blurs the boundaries between inside and out, immersing the addition amongst its own secret garden. Ha Architecture combines a calming and muted palette with a softness of form and integration amongst the surrounds, ensuring the new feels intentionally conceived.

Sited amongst similar era and scaled heritage row homes in Abbotsford, Wendy House extends backward and upward into its site, enhancing a sense connection internally as well as between the built and the natural. Opting to lengthen the originally established vernacular of the heritage weatherboard home beyond the original, the extended aspect feels as though it has always been in place. A sensitivity to texture and muted-ness is carried internally, with natural and textural elements brought together through a similar softness and response to context, cocooning its occupants. Wanting to create a feeling of permanence and immerse the new amongst the existing, Ha Architecture ensures the garden and rear landscaping play a key role in sculpting the living addition to the home.

A sensitivity to texture and muted-ness is carried internally, with natural and textural elements brought together through a similar softness and response to context, cocooning its occupants.

Built by Frame Works, together with joinery by Evolve Interiors and landscaping by Pop Plant, Wendy House funnels its focus from the home’s original formality out toward an open and connected series of zones. The addition encases a guest bedroom, home office, main bedroom suite and the creation of an open living, dining and kitchen zone. In conjuring the ideal home for its owner, the creation of a layered landscaped space references the idea of a secret garden to the rear. As the primary living zone opens, a sense of discovery and curiosity entices an engagement beyond the façade. The home’s namesake is inspired by the Peter Pan character Wendy and the creation of her own playhouse, while the home itself captures the essence of a cubbyhouse and sits surrounded by established treetop canopies and rooftops.

While the original weatherboard casing extends out and wraps the new double story addition, a cohesive and natural approach internally binds the old and new. Behind the original two front rooms held intact, the new emerges over two levels to the rear and carries a retreated calm throughout. Extending out from the interior into the garden, terracotta pavers lead a visual connection outward, while the timber and soft green palette adds warmth and further connects to the landscape. A simplicity of form and finish intentionally matches the personality of its owner, conjuring the ideal place of escape once inside.

The home’s namesake is inspired by the Peter Pan character Wendy and the creation of her own playhouse, while the home itself captures the essence of a cubbyhouse and sits surrounded by established treetop canopies and rooftops.

Through blending soft and rich layers, Ha Architecture’s Wendy House sensitively extends the original home, ensuring its continued relevance and consistency with context