Some architecture practices are just reliably good; they seem to create a little bit of magic in everything they do. In an age where magazines, the internet and social media are flooded with design outcomes moving into a unified, homogenised aesthetic, it is rare to come across a project that makes me look twice, or fifty-four times for that matter. A project layered with richness, soul and inimitable personality, that isn’t afraid to offer a new take on residential architecture and to stand for something; at the same time maintaining a broad appeal that doesn’t alienate those who prefer their homes served with a bland dose of beige.
This, my friends, is a true testament to the talent of , the -based architecture practice that’s celebrating 20 incredible years in business . Their Caroline House is an alteration and addition to a weatherboard Edwardian house in inner Melbourne, which recently picked up a bunch of accolades, like the Victorian Architecture Awards’ top gong for Residential Architecture. While most ‘Alts & Ads’ projects (that’s frequently used shop-talk for ‘Alterations and Additions’ to the non-architects amongst us – you’re welcome) are typically plagued with a bunch of existing limitations that can get in the way of big-picture creative thinking, this was clearly not the case here.
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The rear of the early-1900s south-facing house had a generous garden. “We restored and re-imagined the existing house and added a pavilion which is separated from the original building by an internal courtyard containing a swimming pool,” said Kennedy Nolan. The major stroke of genius lies in this project’s ability to break with the convention of backyard extensions. Both a sense of formality and whimsy permeate the entire project, described by the architects as an “eccentric formal quality” that offers a balanced relationship between garden and interior space, further heightened through a sophisticated attitude to texture, colour and pattern.
The Client was after an expressive, engaging and memorable family home, with the most fundamental element of their brief being the . “The challenge of integrating swimming pools into domestic environments increases every year with new regulations which break down the immediacy of proximity to water,” explained Kennedy Nolan, who cleverly designed a centralised pool that incorporates a gate in the facade of the building. “The pool deliberately challenges regular notions – it is round, it is compact, it is deep, it is dark,” said the architects.
The pool is imagined for year-round use, with shimmering reflections animating the facade in winter. The immediate proximity of water to the interior has a dramatic effect too, creating an illusion that the edge of the building plunges into a deep pool. “These effects are deliberate and aspire to create a setting which is poetic and evocative without being specific – an environment redolent of things in our city and in our imagination,” said the design team.
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Despite the expressive design approach, functional aspects were not compromised by the playful forms. The courtyard fulfils the conventional requirements of passive solar design, with the inclusion of a swimming pool only augmenting its function beyond a decorative presence, by providing evaporative cooling effects in summer.
“The principle curved wall allows for a layered and nuanced interior and a dramatic and compelling exterior space,” said Kennedy Nolan. An expert, cohesive approach to the interiors links the rooms of the existing house to those in the new extension, creating a seamless narrative with plenty of moments of delight and discovery within a singular aesthetic.
I’m 100% sold.
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