Project: Double Happiness House
Architects: Glow Design Group
Interior finishes and styling: ARI Interiors
Builder: Layton Homes
Location: Mount Macedon, Victoria, Australia
Photo Credits: Jack Lovel
Text by Glow Design Group
I was so happy to have another country design on the board. Initial meet up is to show my process and how I can design and document a house in Macedon when the studio is based in Williamstown, Melbourne.
I have always seen myself as a supporter of new technology. I pretty much refused to learn Autocad as I saw the future to me as three-dimensional design and drafting. I aimed my studies at Archicad and Revit.
This software though expensive and complicated at first gives me an edge in being onsite when I have the land scanned into the computer.
Nothing beats site visits from time to time, especially pre concepts it is imperative. When in the studio; however, the power of the software mimics the site.
The clients met with me and we were able to see each other’s personality. They seemed like such a nice family to work with, and optimistic. It is a two way choice with potential clients, they need to like the designer and I need to know that I can work with the clients.
The land strangely for a country lot had a building envelope, and the only way to achieve the brief was to build double storey.
The main items to focus on is that they wanted a double garage, to me this needed to be at the side and not dominating the facade, and being a country property, this was possible as the drive could come in from the side. The other part of the brief was that a business was to be run from there. Client is a nutritionist and would have meetings, this was to be kept separate from family living. They would also do cooking courses from this location, so kitchen design on a more industrial scale needed to be done.
The Double Happiness House took shape in the computer. Layout first sorted, with different zones, and thinking of the way the floorplan would be used, keeping the powder room away from the kitchen, making the l’dry and boot area central and usable from garage.
I looked back at the concepts and was surprised at how the original concepts were similar to that which was built. Often in design development things change and vary greatly from the concept.
The Name: Double Happiness
When designing it is always nice to have a particular name as it gives personality. It can be often quite a search.
This design was briefly many names, one that stood out was Twin Peaks which reflected the gables. Much further thought went into it and the Double for the peaks and the client has a business Big Bowl of Happy. Putting them together is Double Happiness, which describes the journey. This also has meaning in China literally meaning joy, a cool bar in Melbourne I had visited and is a very good song by Lloyd Cole.
