Port Melbourne House

by Winter Architecture

Port Melbourne House by a Winter Architecture team comprising of Jean Graham and Jack Mounsey, is an extension to an existing Victorian home in Port Melbourne that was primarily driven by the client’s desire for light filled living & working spaces connected to the outdoors, whilst also accommodating an elderly family member to comfortably age in place.

The Port Melbourne House epitomises Winter Architecture’s commitment to the acute sensitivity of site conditions and client needs in order to uncover the unique possibilities and site potential that was presented by this stunning project.

Programme and form are divided into three volumes, delineated by carefully inserted external courtyards. The first volume is given to autonomous aging in place, the second to the primary living zones, and the third to a laneway accessed garage and loft studio.

Winter Architecture’s stunning use of clean lines and raw materials create an unparraleled visual impact within the confines of the home’s contempoary asthetic. The interior of the home is polished and refined with the standard practicality of modern Australian living. The use of handleless cabinetry reiterates the design narrative of modernity. This is futher complemented by the striking rounded edges of the furniture found throughout the communal and private spaces.

In the spirit of ‘Enfilade’, visual continuity throughout and between the three volumes of the home became the basis for resolving the client’s complex programmatic requirements while enhancing a sense of connectivity within the constraints of the narrow east-west oriented plot.

Where space could not be afforded at the horizontal plane, axis and verticality are expressed through perforations in volumes connecting internal and external environments, extending programme, harnessing and diffusing northern light throughout.

Form and material are expressed in light tones with softened edges minimising visual impact, mediating solar gain. Sympathetic to its context, speaking softly, yet proudly.

Winter Architecture‘s Port Melbourne House was shortlised at the 2018 Houses Awards – thus providing justifed recongition for a studio that has been changing the face of Australian architecture through contempoary projects like the remarkable Port Melbourne House.

To view more Winter Architecture Inspired Architecture and Interior Design Archives head to their TLP Profile.

Keep up to date with The Local Project’s latest interviews, project overviews, collections releases and more – view our TLP Articles & News.

Explore more design, interior & architecture archives in our TLP Archives Gallery.