jigsaw-house
Jigsaw House is a contemporary cantilevered extension, clad in a beautiful dark metal skin, to an Edwardian dwelling in St Kilda West. Materials utilised also include the red brick base of its origins, and with timber a defining feature throughout. Designed to respect the intact heritage streetscape and the neighbourhood character in general, it encompasses a contextual approach that makes the most of natural light from surprising sources while remaining recessive from the street and neighbours.
Jigsaw House started as a single fronted, single storey, tiny 2 bedroom brick stucco in St Kilda West. In need of a renovation and additional rooms to create a family home, and within a heritage overlay with sensitive planning constraints on neighbouring properties, the design had to resolve the competing imperatives of maximising the floor area set against the restraints of the Port Phillip heritage policy and building setback diagram.
The design respects the gable roof and stucco and brick detailing of the original home, incorporating red brick to the rear boundary. The extended first floor form appears linear and balanced when viewed from the south streetscape, yet modestly cantilevers over the courtyard to provide shelter from the elements and the sun when viewed from the west.
Space was tight and there was none to waste. Finding the solution was like a solving a puzzle. To make generous spaces it was necessary to borrow any surplus space from the adjacent spaces, and to direct light through the first floor to the ground floor below. What would normally take up a much greater footprint, here through necessity and clever insertions - each pice fitting together like a jigsaw - takes up a very modest footprint on a tiny site.
Surprising details include the external bike store opening onto the courtyard, hidden behind the timber screen wall, which manages to fit 6 bikes! Also the first floor terrace which managed to pass through planning due to clever privacy screening, and an expansive first floor master suite which includes a walk-in robe which has a skylight shared with the kitchen below, and study area. The ensuite includes a shower and bath where you can look up at the stars.
The solution to the puzzle of spaces of Jigsaw House was eventually found. Nothing is too big or too small and the resultant spaces are both finely scaled and generous. The interaction of the spaces with each other is effortless and yet subtly expressed.
Jigsaw House started as a single fronted, single storey, tiny 2 bedroom brick stucco in St Kilda West. In need of a renovation and additional rooms to create a family home, and within a heritage overlay with sensitive planning constraints on neighbouring properties, the design had to resolve the competing imperatives of maximising the floor area set against the restraints of the Port Phillip heritage policy and building setback diagram.
The design respects the gable roof and stucco and brick detailing of the original home, incorporating red brick to the rear boundary. The extended first floor form appears linear and balanced when viewed from the south streetscape, yet modestly cantilevers over the courtyard to provide shelter from the elements and the sun when viewed from the west.
Space was tight and there was none to waste. Finding the solution was like a solving a puzzle. To make generous spaces it was necessary to borrow any surplus space from the adjacent spaces, and to direct light through the first floor to the ground floor below. What would normally take up a much greater footprint, here through necessity and clever insertions - each pice fitting together like a jigsaw - takes up a very modest footprint on a tiny site.
Surprising details include the external bike store opening onto the courtyard, hidden behind the timber screen wall, which manages to fit 6 bikes! Also the first floor terrace which managed to pass through planning due to clever privacy screening, and an expansive first floor master suite which includes a walk-in robe which has a skylight shared with the kitchen below, and study area. The ensuite includes a shower and bath where you can look up at the stars.
The solution to the puzzle of spaces of Jigsaw House was eventually found. Nothing is too big or too small and the resultant spaces are both finely scaled and generous. The interaction of the spaces with each other is effortless and yet subtly expressed.
Project Year: 2017
Project Cost: $500,001 AUD - $750,000 AUD
Country: Australia
Postcode: 3182
