An unsympathetic addition is sloughed from the over 100-year-old cottage, allowing the structure and its inhabitants to breathe. Original building fabric is repaired, harvested and recycled in the new addition, prioritising light and external connections on the tight and overshadowed site.
The clients and their two young boys—against convention—wanted to downsize from a larger family home, with the intention to live with less and focus on an outdoor lifestyle. In response, the design simply became a big deck that forms both the external and interior spaces of the new addition.
An architectural roof feature draws light in from the north, and the narrow southern side entry is made into a hard-working ‘corridor’ that holds a bike shed, bin storage, outdoor shower, garden and living room break-out deck.
The construction-esque aesthetic stems from a desire that the house be honest and robust. The exposure of things normally hidden imbues a unique beauty and functionality to them.
From recycled hardwood studs in the walls, to the site-made joinery, an appreciation of craftsmanship (built by the client’s father) becomes part of the ethic in daily life lived there.
