Houzz Tours
Houzz Tour: Heritage-Listed Victorian Dares to Turn Green
With the health and wellbeing of his family – and the planet – driving the design, this architect has built the house of his dreams
When S2 design architect David Saunders and his wife first moved in to the heritage-listed Victorian terrace they bought eight years ago in Melbourne’s St Kilda, it was rendered in a “kind of dark, death grey” but was liveable – unless it rained. Flooding and electrical short circuiting soon prompted Saunders to get started turning the house into a courageous, comfortable and environmentally cutting-edge family home. “I could see the love hiding underneath waiting to get out,” Saunders says.
His family motivated many of the principles underlying the design – he wanted to provide his wife and children with the best health benefits buildings can offer in terms of fresh, oxygenated air, balanced humidity, home-grown food, non-toxic materials and plenty of sunshine. As well as having a working roof farm, he wanted the home to be able to function almost totally off the grid. “Both children were born during the planning and construction stages, a divorce was avoided and the architect/client/builder narrowly avoided jumping off a bridge,” jokes Saunders. “I love that my young family live in and love a home that ‘dad built with his own hands’ and that there are memories and stories in every corner of the house.“
His family motivated many of the principles underlying the design – he wanted to provide his wife and children with the best health benefits buildings can offer in terms of fresh, oxygenated air, balanced humidity, home-grown food, non-toxic materials and plenty of sunshine. As well as having a working roof farm, he wanted the home to be able to function almost totally off the grid. “Both children were born during the planning and construction stages, a divorce was avoided and the architect/client/builder narrowly avoided jumping off a bridge,” jokes Saunders. “I love that my young family live in and love a home that ‘dad built with his own hands’ and that there are memories and stories in every corner of the house.“
It’s hard to imagine an ultra-modern home hiding behind such a traditional facade. “Guests are lulled into a familiar sense of comfort by the retained Victorian portions at the front of the house,” Saunders says. “Upon entering the main living space on the upper floor, jaws drop and the exclamation of ‘Wow!’ can normally be heard.“ Apart from removing the render to expose its original brickwork, the heritage-listed home fits seamlessly into the heritage streetscape.
“This project is the culmination of more than 20 years of research and a proving ground for ideas that I’ve previously not tested,” Saunders says. “The now completed project and its successful results have given me almost fearless confidence to follow through with new concepts; because everything worked as I expected!” This renovation has won numerous awards for sustainability; S2 design is now considered one of the top sustainability architecture firms in Australia.
The new rear section was built behind the front two rooms on 10 different levels (yes, 10). The house wraps around a courtyard, which allows early morning and northern sun to fill the house on the two main levels in winter. Saunders says he took inspiration from the sculptural work of the late Rosalie Gascoigne AM in the design, particularly her assemblages of wooden boxes and old timber. He also incorporated the Bauhaus principle of Gesamtkunstwerk; an integrated work of art where architecture, landscape, interior design, artwork, furnishing and even engineering are holistically united.
The original front two rooms were left pretty much as is, simply because Saunders likes a home to be able to tell a story about its past. “My architecture is very much about maintaining, restoring and illustrating the history of properties,” he says. “I’m loathe for old buildings to be demolished and history erased.”
Sustainability and permaculture principles were core to the planning, design, material selection, construction techniques and building operation.
Heating during winter is mainly generated from the sun and supplemented by a highly efficient gas-boosted hydronic heating system that incorporates vintage cast-iron radiators, such as the red one seen here.
Photo by Melanie Faith Dove
Scant paint has been used in the renovation, with Saunders preferring to leave durable construction materials in their natural state – raw, tactile and honest. Internal walls, ceilings and joinery are plantation plywood with Intergrain clear satin finish.
Bathroom fittings and fixtures: Linkware Elle stainless steel
Bathroom fittings and fixtures: Linkware Elle stainless steel
“Based on primitive concepts of communal living, all rooms are subtly interconnected, allowing the entire space to act as one,” Saunders says. “This simplifies regulation of humidity, light, temperature and fresh air.” He says children, especially, should be physically unrestricted and able to move around, up and down with absolute freedom.
The house generates its own electrical power from a row of solar panels, and provides enough solar hot water to meet the family’s needs three-quarters of the time. Light-stable industrial plastics in green, orange, black, grey, yellow, blue and red have been used inside and out.
Photo by Melanie Faith Dove
More than 43,000 litres of rainwater can be stored in four Tank Master galvanised steel tanks in the basement to provide water for everything but drinking.
The home uses a ‘stack effect’ like chimney to move cooler air from a lower bathroom to the upper floors. Glass walls in the bathrooms can be left open to draw air down and across the ground floor and into Lena’s adjacent study.
The children’s bathroom opens to a garden framed by the back of the original Victorian chimney in Gala’s bedroom. Grey water is separated from sewerage and collected for reuse in the garden.
Photo by Melanie Faith Dove
Photo by Melanie Faith Dove
Saunders aims for the roof farm to eventually provide all the fruit and vegetables the family needs. It has been built to support 200 tonnes of soil.
The courtyard so far has a large citrus hedge, salad garden, selection of herbs and an espaliered pomegranate tree.
Enormous dog, Ed, was Saunders’ constant companion during the build.
Photo by Melanie Faith Dove
Photo by Melanie Faith Dove
Natural light penetrates the entire house through glazed skylights, windows, walls and floors.
Photo by Melanie Faith Dove
Photo by Melanie Faith Dove
Each of the three toilets is stainless steel – a hint that the house is as practical as it is striking.
Photo by Melanie Faith Dove
Photo by Melanie Faith Dove
Who lives here? S2 design director David Saunders, his wife Lena, daughter Gala (aged 4) and son Sol (2)
Location: St Kilda, Melbourne
Size: 450 square metres including balconies, double garage and 70 square-metre roof garden. The home has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a study and a Feldenkrais teaching studio.
By designing (and building) this home with the environment in mind, Saunders wanted to demonstrate, against common belief, how contemporary architecture, passive design principles and self-sufficiency can be incorporated into older, inner-suburban Melbourne dwellings while showcasing the traditional origins of the property.
Photography by John Gollings unless otherwise noted