Project: Long Garden House
Architecture: Bower Architecture
Builder: Built by the client
Landscape: Lisa Ellis Gardens
Location: Caulfield North, Victoria, Australia
Photo Credits: Shannon McGrath
A spacious and peaceful family home surrounded by its lush long garden.
Like many of our clients, the owners of Long Garden House engaged Bower when they purchased a suburban block to gain space for their growing family. They enjoyed their previous inner urban home close to the sea and moving further out was a tough decision.
To make up for no beach nearby, a key element of the brief was to create a tranquil home where they could feel surrounded by, and completely connected to landscape. Making the house super functional and easy for a busy and active family of five was a high priority as was making sure the home could adapt as the kids grew up.
The east west orientation of the site was perfect for creating a long L shaped plan, where the main living spaces can face north and flow into a long private garden space.
A playroom also faces the long garden as does the extension of the garage which with wide bifolding doors can function as a workshop, undercover gym or play area. A spacious home workspace is also located at the ground floor facing the morning sun and the front garden. A mud room and bathroom form an internal threshold to the home from the garage and a supremely functional back of house zone includes a butlers pantry, a home control centre and laundry.
The material palette was chosen to be robust yet luxurious and is a suite of textures in white, punctuated by warm Australian blackbutt accents. Working collaboratively with our client builder and his preferred construction technique, the main walls of the house are reinforced masonry walls which were bagged in soft white. Aluminium battened screens and pergolas invite the landscape to eventually creep up and over the facades while also offering adaptability to the seasons.
Internally a touch of opulence is achieved with the use of Carrara marble at the kitchen and bathrooms with oak joinery details. The bathrooms feature a playful rich blue herringbone tile to the floors and matching cabinetry.
Upstairs, the main bedroom suite is zoned away from the kids zone and faces its own rooftop terrace and the morning sun. Privacy and sun shading to the main bedroom informs the striking operable white battened screens at the first floor of the street frontage, which can be opened or closed as desired. Three kids bedrooms, two bathrooms and a rumpus form the kids zone, with a book nook at the end of the hall for reading books with the kids.
The long wing of the Long Garden House is a consistent asymmetrical gable its entire length. The form is both a nod to the shape of the older home that occupied the site in the past, and a contemporary reflection of the dominant forms of the street scape. The roof space also offered the client a huge attic space which they love!
