The brief
The homeowners, who bought a 1930s Art Deco cottage, desired an increased footprint, flexible rooms, performance kitchen and off-street parking. The architects also set out to respond to context, history, environment and material.
Design outcomes
To honour the heritage of the house, the architects retained the front rooms and their period detailing, and positioned the two-storey extension to respect the original series of cottages. They also maintained the hidden side entry, reinforced the internal planning split between public and private zones, and doubled down on the relationship between formal and informal spaces. North- and east-facing windows take it in turns to introduce light indoors, and bullnose ceilings concentrate and scatter the light.
Editor’s favourite
The stepped bullnose roofs, which solved several design challenges: they navigated maximum building envelope permissions, anchored Deco House in the era of its namesake, and added a little Hollywood pizazz to leafy Kew.
Details
Location: Kew, Victoria
Architect: Mihaly Slocombe
Builder: Basis Builders
Photography: Tatjana Plitt