Situated on a narrow 210 square metre block, Silhouette Hytte is proof beautiful architecture prevails in the most tight of situations. A 34.4 metre by 6.1 metre wide block plays host to a house that features a textural palette guided by timber joinery, cream white walls and green plantations.
Designed by FIGR, the practice was faced with a number of challenging constraints such as a heritage overlay, flood overlay and close proximity of neighboring trees in order to produce a house that aligned with the brief of the client. The project required a carefully considered design response that the practice formulated through careful planning that used the existing dwelling and the various issues of the metropolitan block to their advantage.
The design process centred around the repurposing of the leftover silhouette of the existing house, that would hold the form of the house in good stead, but allowing the practice to realise its potential with contemporary characteristics.
The house’s white weatherboard facade leaves much of the building’s unique form and contemporary facelift concealed to the street. The white picket fence is reminiscent of many metropolitan townhouses, with the Victorian-esque trim that runs along the house’s exterior offering a window into the dwelling’s past life.
The shape of the silhouette has been stretched, distorted and repurposed to create the external building form and also to facilitate the programmatic arrangement within the building interior. The fold in the rear elevation is a nod to the narrow proportions of the block, and in turn negotiates the close proximity of the neighboring tree canopy. The fold creates a rather dynamic experience to the rear facade with the building changing appearance and proportion from different vantage points. The use of black standing seam metal cladding provides a strong contrast to the existing weatherboard house juxtaposing old and new, and providing a third primary feature of the exterior palette that accompanies the federation-style brickwork and white weatherboard.
The re-shaping of the silhouette is expressed by the external ship lapped timber cladding that carries through into the interior spaces arranged within the diagonal lines which further extend to create the timber deck externally. The manipulation of the silhouette by FIGR has given Silhouette Hytte a feeling of spaciousness, in spite of the small building footprint.
Silhouette Hytte is a demonstration of the art of illusion. FIGR have moved beyond the nature of this small block to formulate a design that looks spacious and open, despite the block’s slim figure. The timber cladding and floorboards seen within the house’s interior create a feeling of warmth, that is justly contrasted by the ivory coloured kitchen cabinetry and the terrazzo tiling of the bathroom. The house is one of sheer beauty, that takes on many a skin and look depending on where abouts you are standing from to view it.
