Houzz Tours
Houzz Tour: New Angle on a Multi-Faceted Renovation
It might be all corners and angles but this renovated Melbourne home is intended to be seen in the round
Approaching the reconfiguration, renovation and extension of a home always requires a new angle of attack, but in the case of this house, located on a prominent corner in Balaclava, Melbourne, it required several new angles.
Architect Daniel Wolkenberg of Poly Studio set about transforming the single-storey Edwardian weatherboard by adding a modern extension that plays with lines and angles, but he also had to consider the fact that the house had three street frontages. The result is a house that makes the most of its multiple viewpoints, maximises the size of the rear garden, and provides independent zones for the evolving needs of a young family.
Architect Daniel Wolkenberg of Poly Studio set about transforming the single-storey Edwardian weatherboard by adding a modern extension that plays with lines and angles, but he also had to consider the fact that the house had three street frontages. The result is a house that makes the most of its multiple viewpoints, maximises the size of the rear garden, and provides independent zones for the evolving needs of a young family.
The new extension – what Wolkenberg calls a deformed box – is designed to animate and engage with the streetscape. It is bordered by a fence that the clients got an artist to paint in order to discourage graffiti. “I think it works well with the premise of making a contribution to the streetscape, and helps to soften the expanse of black fencing,” the architect says.
The dark box-like addition is clad in stained-black silvertop ash timber to contrast and complement the original white weatherboard cottage in front. Wolkenberg says this colour palette expresses the organisation of the house in black and white, as well as the relationship of the old and new. Its framework is painted pink as a bold but complementary contrast to the black.
Black stain in ‘Palm Beach Black’: Porter’s Paints; exterior trim paint in ‘Soft Satin’: Dulux
The dark box-like addition is clad in stained-black silvertop ash timber to contrast and complement the original white weatherboard cottage in front. Wolkenberg says this colour palette expresses the organisation of the house in black and white, as well as the relationship of the old and new. Its framework is painted pink as a bold but complementary contrast to the black.
Black stain in ‘Palm Beach Black’: Porter’s Paints; exterior trim paint in ‘Soft Satin’: Dulux
Pink fascia is used around the plywood canopy that carves out the carport (from a bedroom in the original house), conjoining the new and old volumes and opening into the hallway. “This meant we could locate off-street parking from the side street rather than the laneway, which liberated the back garden and optimised the orientation of rooms to the north,” Wolkenberg says. “It also provides very convenient access to the car, of critical importance to one of the clients who is an obstetrician and is required to respond to call outs at all hours.”
Originally, the Edwardian house accommodated all the bedrooms, with the living areas housed in a rear extension dating from the ’90s, which Poly Studio demolished. Now, the internal planning of the house has been structured around a series of separate zones, meeting a key part of the clients’ brief: “The consideration was of how the parents and children would use the house as the children matured and became teenagers. There had to be a provision for them to entertain and hang out independently of the parents,” says Wolkenberg.
The original weatherboard house now comprises a parents’ zone with master bedroom, walk-in robe, ensuite bathroom and a generous study/home office. The ground floor of the extension includes the open-plan living-dining space, kitchen and laundry; with the children’s zone upstairs. The extension opens to the garden and the cantilevered north-east corner encloses a covered patio accessed from the living-dining area.
The original weatherboard house now comprises a parents’ zone with master bedroom, walk-in robe, ensuite bathroom and a generous study/home office. The ground floor of the extension includes the open-plan living-dining space, kitchen and laundry; with the children’s zone upstairs. The extension opens to the garden and the cantilevered north-east corner encloses a covered patio accessed from the living-dining area.
Inside the cottage part of the home, the heritage features and generous proportions of the original house have been retained. “The front entry corridor allows for a clear connection from the front of the house to the rear of the house, with a clear line of sight through to the back garden,” Wolkenberg says. This seamlessness is echoed in the flooring: existing Baltic pine floorboards in the front of the house merging into recycled Baltic pine floorboards in the rear of the house. “The clients wanted it to be as seamless as possible from the front of the house to the back.”
Walls painted in ‘Natural White’: Dulux
Walls painted in ‘Natural White’: Dulux
Also in the front of the house is the study. This is a generous room with a bay window and fireplace. Poly Studio retained the original architectural trim, such as the mouldings and ceiling rose, while inserting contemporary interventions, such as built-in joinery, “to complement the original features but to be clearly legible as contemporary elements,” says Wolkenberg. He used laminate on birch plywood for much of the joinery, including the wardrobes and study bookshelves, because he says he liked “the way the fabrication of the material is exposed”.
Sphere pendant light: Toss B
Sphere pendant light: Toss B
Alongside the study, the master bedroom is in the front room of the Edwardian house and faces south on the front porch. Poly Studio undertook little intervention, with work predominantly limited to upgrading the fixtures and fittings.
Behind the master bedroom however, a former east-facing bedroom has been converted into a walk-in robe and ensuite bathroom.
The ensuite has a steam shower, and the vanity benchtop is laminate on ply with pastel-coloured joinery to mimic the soft blue of the kitchen.
Slimtech Gouache.10 porcelain tiles: Lea Ceramiche; two-pack paint finish on vanity in ‘Blue Balm’: Dulux; Pol tapware: Sussex
Slimtech Gouache.10 porcelain tiles: Lea Ceramiche; two-pack paint finish on vanity in ‘Blue Balm’: Dulux; Pol tapware: Sussex
Down the hall to the right, the galley-style kitchen extends east from the living and dining area. Its large north-facing window opens to the covered patio.
Beama Surface Eye Fixed light fittings: Masson For Light
Beama Surface Eye Fixed light fittings: Masson For Light
The recycled Baltic pine floorboards continue the sense of seamlessness throughout the old and new volumes, as do the white walls. Pale-blue joinery is a soft touch and in harmony with the master ensuite bathroom.
Benchtop in ‘Sorbet’: Essastone; two-pack paint finish on cabinets in ‘Blue Balm’: Dulux; splashback Devonshire ceramic tiles in ‘White’: Beaumont Tiles
Benchtop in ‘Sorbet’: Essastone; two-pack paint finish on cabinets in ‘Blue Balm’: Dulux; splashback Devonshire ceramic tiles in ‘White’: Beaumont Tiles
“The house has been designed to incorporate passive design principles with key rooms and spaces oriented to the north with effective solar shading, and a minimisation of windows facing east and west.” Windows have also been strategically located to encourage cross-ventilation. Reverse brick veneer construction has been adopted to incorporate thermal mass into the house.
Comet spotlight on tracks: Masson For Light
Comet spotlight on tracks: Masson For Light
On the ground floor of the extension, the living and dining zones are connected to the kitchen, laundry and courtyard. “Even though the house is modest in size, it feels generously proportioned and the spaces work really well,” says Wolkenberg.
The black-stained cladding of the extension’s exterior is also visible inside, creating a flow indoors and out. “We wrapped the cladding into the interior of the house along one wall of the living zone and up into the stairwell, so that there was some continuity from exterior to interior,” says Wolkenberg.
The black-stained cladding of the extension’s exterior is also visible inside, creating a flow indoors and out. “We wrapped the cladding into the interior of the house along one wall of the living zone and up into the stairwell, so that there was some continuity from exterior to interior,” says Wolkenberg.
A full-length and full-width feature window allows for plenty of northern light, while its angle and the eave of the balcony above creates a degree of self-shading.
Modo Eva pendant lights: Cafe Culture + Insitu
Modo Eva pendant lights: Cafe Culture + Insitu
As in the new living space, the black cladding extends along and up the wall of the stairway, terminating upstairs. “The black stain allows some visibility of the feature and grain in the timber cladding,” says Wolkenberg.
Residence range Master Series wool carpet in ‘Seventy One’: EC Group; Akari pendant light: Noguchi; Beama Solo Up & Down light: Masson For Light
Upstairs houses the children’s zone, with a bathroom and bedrooms that share a common balcony overlooking the backyard. This gives the children and parents their separate spaces and provides an opportunity for the children to entertain and hang out together with friends and independent of parents as they mature.
A second-floor balcony overlooks the rear garden, and does double duty as an eave, providing some shading to the living areas below.
“Although it is not obviously designed to look ‘green’, the form of the project has been shaped by this environmental response,” Wolkenberg says. “The extension is pushed down on the south to minimise its visual impact on the original house, and the form on the northern face is shaped to incorporate solar control, effectively forming a self-shading facade without the need for applied sun shading.”
TELL US
How do you like the angular extension and interior renovation of this suburban corner cottage? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
TELL US
How do you like the angular extension and interior renovation of this suburban corner cottage? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
Who lives here: Two doctors and their two young children
Location: Balaclava, Melbourne, Victoria
Year completed: 2016
Size: 240 square metres; 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, study and living areas
Architects: Poly Studio
As the name suggests, Corner House sits on a north-east corner, which pedestrians pass by on the way to the suburb’s local train station and shopping strip. It’s also bounded by a rear laneway at the north of the property. “The project is a very specific response to the opportunities presented by the site and its location,” Wolkenberg says. In fact, the architect feels that this island-like condition results in the house being experienced ‘in the round’, despite its angular form.
“It is highly exposed to the neighbourhood,” says Wolkenberg, “which suggested both an opportunity, but also a responsibility, for the house to contribute to the streetscape.”