Project: Mavis House
Architects: Altereco Design
Location: Yarraville, Victoria, Australia
Area: 212 m2
Project budget: $600,000
Completion date 2020
Photo Credits: Jade Cantwell
Text by Altereco Design
Mavis House is a contemporary and minimal renovation that transformed a post war brick house into an expansive family home situated in Yarraville.
A restrained materials palette reflects the architecture of the project, a meeting of classic and contemporary. A cooling and minimalist palette enriched with solid timber details and a dowel battened screening creates a welcoming series of spaces with a robust and practical seamlessness.
The client’s specific requirements included:
– Walk-in robe and ensuite to the master bedroom, a multi-purpose room, and a renovated bathroom. The design provided for these within the context of the existing home with some internal wall modifications.
– Open kitchen-living-dining zone. This space needed to be light and bright with a strong connection to the outdoor space and provide privacy from their neighbours.
– Passive design. A reduction of mechanical heating and cooling was required along with a focus on energy efficiency throughout.
– Increased storage capacity and bike storage. These elements were created within an existing brick garage
The fine handcrafted joinery elements in the living and kitchen, offer a light-filled breakfast bar that extends into a year round outdoor entertainment area, and a cosy living unit and fireplace offering a place of refuge.
The existing building fabric has been significantly enhanced with high-performance insulation, solar panels and double glazing throughout. The challenging site orientation (north facing the street) has been overcome by creating some separation between old and new. This has allowed for some very tall north facing windows, bringing in winter sun to passively warm the polished concrete floor.
We have also reduced the amount of raw materials for this project by retaining a portion of the existing shed!
Ultimately the design celebrates family life and carefully considers the history of the site and its environmental impact on its surrounding context.
External cladding – Lightsy – Karma
New bit entry pendant – Mark Douglass Design
Exterior paint – Dulux Domino, Dulux Whisper White Quarter, Cutek CD50 timber protection oil
Interior paint – Lexicon Quarter
Fencing – Plans for a future hardwood batten fence to the street and to further screen the private open space
