With March behind us, let’s take a look at the top 10 stories covered throughout the month. Click on the title to read the full story, and let us know which ones were your favourites – or what else we should have covered.
Iron Maiden House was designed for a family of five, returning to Sydney from many years living in Hong Kong. Accustomed to the oceanic subtropical monsoon climate of Hong Kong, the clients were looking for a home that used passive design principles to heat and cool the building. They weren’t afraid to challenge traditional notions of what a home should and shouldn’t be, requesting a generous connection to the outdoors to enjoy and entertain family and friends.
This house was originally designed as part of a competition for the Womens Weekly Home of the Future, 1965 by Lief Kristensen. The house had undergone several alterations and the original intent of the plan was diluted and was in a state of disrepair. Instead of knocking down the building, the clients who have a young family, decided to renovate and wanted to explore options for improving spatial, structural and privacy issues.
With a linear and clean look rarely seen in country homes, this reborn Queensland residence has a simplicity that is repeated throughout the entire design. At the same time, this stunning home manages to maintain its connection to the environment with its material selection and spatial planning.
Woods Bagot and rail experts John McAslan + Partners (JMP) are the architectural partners tasked with delivering the upgrade to Central Station, a key component of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project. According to Woods Bagot, the key heritage qualities of the 112-year-old station will be emphasised along with the introduction of new architecturally-inspiring elements as part of a scheme that amplifies Central Station as a Sydney icon.
The concept for the Inside Outside House seeks to express the site as a room to inhabit. A clear glass box forms on the ground floor and a simplified cantilevered box form hovering above employs architectural design solutions to blur the boundaries between what is inside and outside. The walls of the glass box retract into the wall cavities, allowing the living and dining spaces of this house to expand beyond to the boundary walls, thus blurring the distinction between internal and external spaces.
Concealed from the street, the transformation of a 1920s Californian Bungalow in Melbourne's inner north is both highly personalised for the needs of its dwellers, and deliberately modest. An 'alteration and addition', the project takes its cue from the 'lean-to' form common to homes of this era, where service rooms and open verandah spaces were located at the rear under a pitched roof leant against an east west gable roof line.
Conceptually, the A&M Houses have been an experiment in drawing a relationship and balance between a reduced footprint, comfortable living and maximised amenity. The undulation of the roof line and the north-facing skylights open up the narrow volumes to the sky above, creating the feeling of an abundance of space. Generous and seamless connections to the outdoors also visually expand the constricted floor plate.
Taking inspiration from the iconic Mornington bathing boxes, Parkside Beach House features concrete bricks and timber batten cladding throughout. The property is ideal for multi-family use and balances open and spacious communal areas with the privacy of secluded retreats.
The renovation and extension of this terrace house has transformed it from a dark, cold home, into a well-lit, warm, naturally ventilated and energy efficient house, with an excellent connection to the garden and views to the city and rooftops of North Carlton.
The renovation and extension of this inner-Melbourne cottage has brought its inhabitants closer to nature and turned their small, dark home into a light-filled sensory experience.
