house Archives - The Design Writer

Studio addition, with minimalist design

October 3, 2017January 1, 2023despc

Sometimes creating something that looks really simple is the most difficult to achieve. Adam Kane Architects has created two new buildings for an existing home in regional Victoria that are characterised by extreme precision and adherence to a minimal aesthetic.

Blackwood Studio exterior by Adam Kane Architects. Photo: Adam Kane

The position of the new garage and studio creates a sense of arrival for visitors, while maintaining a line of sight between the dwelling’s entry and the street. The buildings’ positioning deflects the wind and directs views towards the surrounding gardens, while bringing light into the space – essential in a studio used for painting. Read more →

Two white houses, with identical plans

August 20, 2017January 1, 2023despc

By Penny Craswell

Two identical white rectangular houses placed at ninety degrees to each other in Melbourne’s East Malvern present an intelligent and cost-effective approach to residential design by Justin Mallia Architecture.

Both buildings at Oak Grove feature the same folded front facade, derived from the site’s angular orientation to north, resulting in a geometry that breaks up what could have been a blocky appearance from the street, while enabling cross ventilation, north orientation and connection to outside. Read more →

Melbourne house, with cloister

January 17, 2017January 1, 2023despc

By Penny Craswell

While the word “cloister” evokes images of monks roaming crumbling monasteries, in fact the term merely refers to a covered walkway, usually with garden connections. Melbourne-based practice MRTN Architects has used the architectural device in a new alteration of a Victorian-era single-fronted terrace house in Carlton.

Connecting old and new at Carlton Cloister House by MRTN Architects. Photo: Shannon McGrath

The addition to the house is placed at the back of the site, with the cloister connecting the two buildings. This layout has a number of benefits, offering an internal link between the two buildings while retaining valuable garden space. By orienting the cloister at the south of the site, the property also gains access to northern sunlight. Read more →

Tiny Sydney terrace, opened out

July 20, 2016January 1, 2023despc

By Penny Craswell

A four-metre-wide terrace in Sydney’s Surry Hills has been transformed from a dark, cramped space into a light-filled home with clean lines and balanced proportions thanks to architecture practice Benn & Penna.

Sydney Terrace by Benn & Penna. Photo: Tom Ferguson

The new bedrooms and bathrooms are located above an open-plan living space that opens onto intimate garden spaces at either end of the property. In order to increase the liveable space in the house, these have been treated as outdoor rooms. Read more →

Perth house, with sculptural brick extension

January 12, 2016January 1, 2023despc

By Penny Craswell

In the Perth suburb of Mt Lawley, a sculptural form pops out above the houses, an irregular tower made of red clay shingles that seems to wrap in on itself in an unusual architectural shape that is also strangely familiar. This is the Camino House, a Perth house extension designed by Bosske and inspired by the shape of a kiln or oast (a traditional building where hops is dried as part of the brewing process).

View from the street, Camino House, designed by Bosske. Photo: Peter Bennetts

“We initially envisaged the extension as a distinct object, as different to the existing house,” explains Caroline Hickey of Bosske. “It could be something which might ‘sit’ behind it, lean against it, looming above it from the street view, creating a casual relationship between these two elements.” Read more →