A Series of Apertures – Light Scoop House by Molecule Studio

Architecturally, the idea of ‘one size fits all’ holds little merit. Instead, buildings conceived as a direct response to client briefing, context and site-specific requirements are deeply original in their identities and exciting to experience. In designing Light Scoop House in Melbourne’s seaside suburb of Brighton, Molecule Studio’s Anja de Spa and Richard Fleming have drawn on various aspects of differing typologies to craft a truly distinctive home that expresses personality and purpose.

Light Scoop House takes cues from both courtyard and terrace house planning approaches. It also subtly references the original weatherboard cottage that once stood on the site. Yet, the house cannot be defined by any one of these typologies, for Light Scoop House has an identity that is entirely its own, due in large part to its defining scoop detail, articulated in the elegantly tapered ceilings and boundary walls. In both instances, the scoop detail “creates an aperture to connect with the sky,” Anja says. “It has become the key move for the project, and it’s repeated throughout.”

Light Scoop House takes cues from both courtyard and terrace house planning approaches.

This defining element is the realisation of the architects’ desire to “bring light and garden into an experience that every room could enjoy,” Anja notes. Pushing the building’s walls to the boundary amplified this challenge and, as a result, every inch of this home works hard. However, there is nothing forced or arduous about the internal experience of Light Scoop House – it is imbued with effortlessness and ease. As Richard says, one’s sightline is immediately drawn upwards upon crossing the threshold, magnetised by volume and light. “It’s uplifting,” he says. “It’s an experience you often get in public buildings – it’s not very common in a residential setting.”

At 48 metres deep and six metres wide, the elongated site presented a challenging footprint. Molecule Studio’s response is three tall pavilions – a study and yoga sspace at the front; two central bedrooms; and finally, the kitchen, dining and living space. There are lower linking elements and courtyards between, “punctuating the form”, and a corridor acts as the building’s spine. At the rear, a sunken lounge flows onto a backyard with landscaping by Eckersley Garden Architecture. “They had a conceal and reveal concept for the back garden,” Anja says. “There’s a curving pathway, which opens and then contains, lengthening the experience through to the rear. It works well in counterpoint to the architecture, which is quite rational.” As Richards adds, the gardens, particularly those adjacent to the bedrooms, have been conceived as a “viewed experience” akin to the act of observing a calming Japanese garden.

n designing Light Scoop House in Melbourne’s seaside suburb of Brighton, Molecule Studio’s Anja de Spa and Richard Fleming have drawn on various aspects of differing typologies to craft a truly distinctive home that expresses personality and purpose.

The front of the home is eye-catching and sculptural, yet it sits gently within the suburban fabric. Addressing how the home would engage with the street was a crucial element, however, the design is the result of an unfolding and interconnected approach. Richard describes it as “a series of moves which came in sections.” He elaborates, saying “we started off with this sectional play of the roof planes, so when it came to the front, we wanted that energised, pictured window frontage.” After experimenting with the form of a bay window, the architects landed on a pane of fluted glass, surrounded by a sculptural timber shroud that protrudes up and out, and folds into the front garden. An open-battened timber fence gently delineates public from private and at night, the glowing, translucent façade acts as a lantern to activate and engage with the street while still providing ample privacy for its occupants.

Essential in achieving Light Scoop House’s tranquil energy was the considered approach to materiality and colour. “We were interested in this understated, subtle materiality,” Richard says. “Everything has a tactility, but it’s a secondary reading.” The ceilings and floors are lined with timber boards, forming a continuous datum between which partition and joinery walls recede, and painted concrete brick walls bring a haptic quality to the space. “The bricks have this porous texture so when the sun streams through, there’s a lovely light play across the surface,” Richard says. Robust, low maintenance materials such as Corian and stainless steel appear throughout – their utilitarian natures offset by the whitewashed blackbutt timber and hints of pastel pink painted surfaces. Concealed cavity doors sit within deep reveals and elsewhere, fluted glass doors allow for borrowed light in unexpected pockets. As Richard notes, it creates a double play on light filtering into the space.”

The front of the home is eye-catching and sculptural, yet it sits gently within the suburban fabric.

This cohesive interior treatment results in a restful and seamless environment. As Anja says, this was not an “overt” part of the brief, but an integral part of the project’s eventual identity, noting the home’s “restrained spirit.” She adds, “something our clients are really enjoying is the calm energy of the spaces. It’s a very quiet, low-frequency environment – it’s a proper retreat for them.”

Yet, Light Scoop House’s undeniable defining feature is its measured engagement with the sky. Despite the tight site, the architects have created a home that unfolds rather than supresses – an experience guided by continuous scooped elements and cleverly crafted volumes. “To be able to appreciate the sky and the changing weather in a home that doesn’t have any long-distance views at all – well, it grounds you,” Anja offers. She adds, “[the client] commented that in the previous house, she’d never enjoyed the sky so much and how it’s different every day. I think that speaks to the success of being able to open up.”

This project does not reinvent the wheel; that was never the architects’ intention. However, it does prove that some methodologies do in fact need to be questioned – to be reworked and pulled apart – to make an idea really sing. Light Scoop House works within its parameters in a rather unconventional way and, as a result, it is delightfully individual yet also pragmatic – a pleasing architectural balance.