Stickybeak of the Week: Kids Play Among the Vineyards
A semi-retired couple dedicate a pavilion extension to their grandchildren that embraces fun, practicality and lots of surprising features
In 2006, a semi-retired couple moved into Hill House, their dream rural home on the Mornington Peninsula. Eight years later, determined to share their vineyard home with their growing family, they planned an extension to make room for current and future grandchildren – a super-sized cubbyhouse that is fun, functional and full of interesting features. Connected to the main house via a glazed bridge, the new standalone pavilion now provides them with the extra room they need to accommodate three or four generations at a time.
Pictured is the bridge that links the extension to the house. It is also the access point to the new and improved vegetable garden, which had to be moved north to allow a straight corridor to connect the home to the new extension.
The homeowners had originally expected the extension to be a replica of the existing house designed in 2006, but second time round had developed a trust in the design team that allowed them to experiment. The result is a pavilion that is indeed seamlessly integrated into the design of the existing home, but is different and contrasting at the same time.
“This was a new project with its own constraints, not to mention architects a decade older,” says Mihaly.
The homeowners had originally expected the extension to be a replica of the existing house designed in 2006, but second time round had developed a trust in the design team that allowed them to experiment. The result is a pavilion that is indeed seamlessly integrated into the design of the existing home, but is different and contrasting at the same time.
“This was a new project with its own constraints, not to mention architects a decade older,” says Mihaly.
The rooms are designed to accommodate flexible uses – two bedrooms now, and perhaps a bedroom and playroom in the future – as the homeowners’ grandchildren grow. The addition of a sliding wall between the two rooms also enables multiple configurations to control both light and sound.
The floor throughout is polished concrete, which was driven by the desire for robustness. “The same thinking led us to line the walls and ceiling with plywood, and clad the building in timber,” says Mihaly. “These materials are durable and have natural finishes that will not require much maintenance. They will age gracefully and should absorb the mayhem of growing children with ease.”
Internal walls in B-C plywood with a Wattyl Estapol water-based speed clear finish: Austral Plywoods
The floor throughout is polished concrete, which was driven by the desire for robustness. “The same thinking led us to line the walls and ceiling with plywood, and clad the building in timber,” says Mihaly. “These materials are durable and have natural finishes that will not require much maintenance. They will age gracefully and should absorb the mayhem of growing children with ease.”
Internal walls in B-C plywood with a Wattyl Estapol water-based speed clear finish: Austral Plywoods
Sustainability was at the core of the design. It was built in conjunction with a 200 per cent extension of an existing solar power system, which now has sufficient generating capacity to cover 90 per cent of the clients’ residential and winemaking needs. In addition to passive solar design techniques – exposed thermal mass, heavily insulated walls and roof, operable windows for cross ventilation, and eaves over all windows – the design team sought to further their clients’ commitment to sustainable design by researching the idea of ecological custodianship.
“We folded our insights back into our specification processes, making predominant use of plantation and native regrowth timber, and detailing our materials to heighten their durability and natural character,” says Mihaly. “We also invested ourselves in off-site manufacturing processes, in particular for the external window shutters. Entirely customised, we first designed these with millimetre accuracy on the computer, then prototyped them in close conjunction with the builder, steel fabricator, electrician and CNC router to perfect them. This was a first for us: never before had we been so closely involved in the manufacture of our designs.”
“We folded our insights back into our specification processes, making predominant use of plantation and native regrowth timber, and detailing our materials to heighten their durability and natural character,” says Mihaly. “We also invested ourselves in off-site manufacturing processes, in particular for the external window shutters. Entirely customised, we first designed these with millimetre accuracy on the computer, then prototyped them in close conjunction with the builder, steel fabricator, electrician and CNC router to perfect them. This was a first for us: never before had we been so closely involved in the manufacture of our designs.”
Mihaly Slocombe designed the steel shutters mounted to each window from scratch because they were unable to find an affordable system that worked the way they wanted. It resulted in a long and involved process that Mihaly reflects was well worth the effort. The team also went through a similar design and testing process with the electrics.
The control point for all the shutters is in the form of a playful launch control in the middle of the extension, as seen here on the side of the sliding wall that helps divide the space.
The control point for all the shutters is in the form of a playful launch control in the middle of the extension, as seen here on the side of the sliding wall that helps divide the space.
The space has various moving parts – operable shutters, sliding walls, retractable curtains – which is unexpected in such a small space, and not only creates a reconfigurable internal layout, but also adds to the sense of play.
“We like to think [the extension] is what a child might design for herself, given six years of architecture school and an adult’s resources!” says Mihaly.
Revolution ceiling fan: Hunter Pacific
“We like to think [the extension] is what a child might design for herself, given six years of architecture school and an adult’s resources!” says Mihaly.
Revolution ceiling fan: Hunter Pacific
The corridor is what Mihaly describes as a “special and unusual place.” A retractable, strawberry-coloured curtain replaces a wall between the rooms and the corridor, enabling multiple configurations and a connection to natural light from the north-facing windows.
Not just for circulation, the sliver of space is a playspace for toddlers, a reading nook for teenagers, a stage for performances, a spot for hide-and-seek, and even a lookout. He adds: “It’s no accident that the curtain is red; it’s a deliberate reference to theatre!”
Bronco II composite fabric curtain in Strawberry: Zepel Fabrics
Not just for circulation, the sliver of space is a playspace for toddlers, a reading nook for teenagers, a stage for performances, a spot for hide-and-seek, and even a lookout. He adds: “It’s no accident that the curtain is red; it’s a deliberate reference to theatre!”
Bronco II composite fabric curtain in Strawberry: Zepel Fabrics
Catalano Premium 60 basin: Rogerseller; gas tap assemblies tapware: Rogerseller; Ideal Standard Tonic toilet: Reece
The shutters help to retain a connection to the house and landscape by opening like eyelids to let light and views in …
… and closing to make way for a secretive, kids-only sanctuary.
At night, the building bewitchingly glows like a lantern, adding yet another dimension to the already picturesque setting – and is just as good to look at as it is to be inside.
Extension at a Glance
Who lives here: Semi-retired couple and their golden retriever
Location: On a vineyard in Merricks, on the Mornington Peninsula
Size: 59sqm; 2 multipurpose rooms, 1 bathroom
Architect: Mihaly Slocombe Architects
The extension brings the total number of bedrooms in the house up to six, five of which can be zoned off from the main living spaces when not in use. This allows the homeowners to be flexible with the number of guests they accommodate, offers oodles or playtime space for the little ones and, most importantly, ensures they feel at ease when the troops have left and it’s just them at home.
It was the existing vegetable garden to the right of the house, rather than the house itself, that inspired the extension’s structure and materials. The plan was to incorporate the garden’s neat rows, red gum sleepers and batten fencing into the design. “We wanted to create a super-sized folly that would belong first and foremost to its garden landscape,” says Warwick Mihaly, principal architect of Mihaly Slocombe Architects.
Outside, the skin of the building is a reinterpretation of the canopy that surrounds a treehouse. “The timber was arranged to represent tree trunks, canopy and sky, while the patterns of dots routed into the timber was derived from a photo of our clients’ favourite Pinot Noir vines,” says Mihaly.