BUILDING AN ADDITION OFTEN INVOLVES considerable alteration to at least part of the existing structure. In the case of this Artarmon house, Melocco and Moore Architects chose to construct the addition as unobtrusively as possible by making it a separate pavilion connected to the existing house by a narrow hallway.

The original house is a single-storey dwelling in the inter-war bungalow style, with a single-hipped terracotta roof and brick walls. To the north is a rear yard containing several mature trees, including a large tallowood tree that’s at least 150 years old and possibly a remnant of the area’s original forest. The architects’ design concept was to build the addition into the rear yard while maintaining the envelope of the original house and working around the old tree.

A gentle slope in the site allowed the pavilion to be built on two levels, which are markedly different in their construction. The eastern upper level has a solid slab base and brickwork walls. The lower western level, where the building comes close to the tallowood tree, is made of lightweight timber with minimal footings to lessen the impact of the structure on the tree’s root system. The study, the closest room to the tree, has been set back and cantilevered. The whole pavilion is covered by a simple single-pitched roof, which contrasts with the traditional double-pitch of the original roof.

The new addition contains the kitchen, dining and living areas, arranged in an open plan style, while the bedrooms and main bathroom are contained in the original budding. The old and new sections of the house are connected by a linking element consisting of a hallway, second bathroom and laundry. This part of the addition has been kept low so that it fits in under the eaves of the old house without disturbing the roof. It is also narrow enough to allow sun to reach the northern side of the original building.

Inside the pavilion, simple shapes and understated furnishings in solid blocks of colour create an atmosphere of cool elegance, while natural wood finishes add a welcoming note. Elements are repeated to provide a strong sense of cohesiveness, such as the narrow horizontal windows which are mirrored in the shape of the bookcases. A bold central element in the form of a low granolithic wall divides the two levels, houses the fireplace and provides a focal point for the space.

On the northern side of the pavilion, the outside splendour of the garden is drawn in through large windows and glass doors. These doors fold back to open up the northern face of both levels, creating a smooth transition from the living areas to the terrace and deck.

By designing the addition as a separate element, instead of an adjunct to the existing building, Melocco and Moore have shown that contrast can be just as appealing as consistency. The old and new sections of the house fit together well, both fine examples of their respective eras.

Contemporary furniture design is in great shape. Box shape, to be precise. Square angles, boxy volumes, simple modules, smooth planes - uncomplicated elements for balanced, beautifully orchestrated living rooms. Timber veneers, plain upholstery fabrics, and sleek chrome and stainless steel details combine to create quietly understated classics for the new are.

* SYSTEM FOR WALLS

The Sintesi wall system from Poliform features a combinationof cool contemporary surfaces such as solid colour and timber laminated veneers, and opaque glass, with chrome details. The system is designed for flexibility, and proportioned to suit the dimensions of inner-city apartments and townhouses. Available from Poliform.

* BLUE BENCH MARK

Antwerp-born designed Maarten Van Severen introduced Blue Bench as a prototype at an exhibition in 1998. Since then it has become part of the Edra collection from Italy. Blue Bench consists of two bled-cut polyurethane blocks, coated with a specially formulated paint. The upper block can be moved about the surface of the base, to create a couch of varying proportions. The polyurethane creates a softly cushioned effect. Available from Space Furniture.

* KEY LARGO

The sleek proportions of the Largo sofa make it an ideal addition to a contemporary interior with a minimalist bent. Its simple geometry has great visual appeal. As shown here, the sofa is upholstered in Instyle ‘Feel’, with 50 mm square stainless steel legs. Available from Not Furniture

* ABSOLUTELY AARNIO

In the 1960s the Finnish designer Eero Aarnio earned an international reputation with his range of innovative chairs and tables in fibreglass, foam, acryl and chroma steel. The Screw Table is one memorable item from this classic range, now being manufactured in Finland by Adelta, Available from dedece.

* PASTIL PERFECTION

When Eero Aarnio designed the Pastil Chair in 1967 it signalled his breakthrough as an international-acclaimed designed. In the world of furniture design in became an icon and remains so to this day. The Pastil Chair is still in production, and is available from dedece along with other striking pieces from Aarnio’s innovative collection.

* UP THE LADDER

This ladder-backed chair features a spotted gum frame, a local take on the Mackintosh original. The chair is designed by Mark Wong, and is available from Designs Australia.

* YES MINISTER

With its impressive wedge arms, the aptly-named Minister’s Chair combines rich materials with business-like curves and planes. The leather back and seat is complemented by red gum veneer arms and brushed stainless steel legs. Designed by Tony Stuart, the Minister’s Chair is available from Source.

* OFF THE PLANET

The saturn coffee table, designed by Ricardo Goncalves, looks set for take-off. Tubular aluminium details and the fin-shaped central spine give it a glamourous, galactic edge. The veneer is laminated brushbox, with brushed aluminium edging. Inquiries to Ricardo Goncalves.

* THINKING GLOBALLY

Swiss-born Hannes Wettstein began designing for Cassina in 1994, This setting shows some of his more recent designs, including the Globe upholstered lounge, the Items storage unit, and the Lem small table. Available from Space Furniture.

AMAZINGLY MODULAR

The Caterpillar range of seating and tables designed by Ross Didier of Origin Didier to the lost word in modular versality chairs and tables interlock to form any number of combinations. Caterpillar is part of his new Metamorph range. Inquiries to Origin Didier.

* BUILDING BLOCKS

These storage units are designed to function as architectural elements as well as practical pieces of furniture. Designed by Tim Dean who made a career switch from architecture to furniture design a few years ago the units combine Tasmanian oak veneer with satin chrome feet. In the foreground the Box storage system features translucent opal acrylic backing All units can be arranged in modular combinations and all have finished backing so they can be placed in the middle of a room. Available from Jacaranda Industries.

* CLASSICALLY CASUAL

The light honey tones of victorian ash give this dining chair a fresh Scandinavian appeal. The incision detail in the back of the chair breaks up the horizontal grain. The Casual Chair is designed by Edward Alexander and is available from Source.

* IN THE BOX

The timelessly elegant BoxOne is from the Box range of classic contemporary furniture designed by Cornwell Hecker. The lounge base is available in stainless steel or chrome, and powdercoat options are available on request. The Box range also includes armchairs, ottomans, occasional tables and dining tables. Available from Stylecraft Australia and S.T.

* QUIRKILY KOOKI

With its groovy boxy form, the Kooki Chair captures the look of a funky cocktail lounge. Residential applications might include a bar, TV room, studio or home office. As a modular unit, the upholstered seats are joined via satin chrome steel connecting plates. Also available s a single unit. Designed by Dominique Hurley, the Kooki Chair is available from Source.

* PERFECT PERCH

A moulded ply seat, with a satin finish timber veneer, tops this stool by Nico Design. a residential setting the Otto is at home at the bare breakfast bench. The base is in stainless steel. Available from Nico Design.

A fresh blue and white colour scheme has brought new zest to this victorian cottage, renovated and extended by conti architects. Colous and finishes have been used to link old to new while giving each section a distinctive style of its own.

THE QUAINT VICTORIAN COTTAGE facade to this inner Melbourne residence is the perfect foil to the contemporary dynamic operating within its walls. Inside the front door, the tone is established by the gleaming blue gum floorboards and chalk white hallway walls.

The few remaining Victorian vestiges amount to structural characteristics — high ceilings, a narrow central hallway — and original fireplaces in the front rooms. Architect Robert Conti used the hall and the existing ceiling heights to create a link between the original dwelling and the rear extension he designed for his young clients. The dominant mood in both sections is light and crisp, with bright feature colours inserted into a basically neutral background. If there was a dress code for interiors, this place would be smart casual.

The existing hallway — originally a gloomy conduit to the service wing of the cottage — is now a visual event, a space which uses perspective to draw the eye through to the extension. A pair of bold blue rendered brick pillars inserted into the glazed back wall of the open living space has been carefully positioned to align, visually, with the hallway. From the hallway, the effect is that these blue vertical elements frame both the end of the hallway and the rear garden. In the living room itself, wide aluminium strips between the glazed doors and windows have been powdercoated in a strident red, creating a vibrant rhythm of primary colours. These blue and red panels are also an exterior feature — complemented by a wall of blue tiles to the courtyard — and help tie the outdoors in with the interior.

Robert used internal finishes to further the sense of connection between the original and new sections of the house. The polished Sydney blue gum floors have a rich reddish tone which works equally well in the old and new parts of the house. The chalk white walls are also consistent, with skylights and a variety of windows used to create variations in light and shadow throughout.

The kitchen and bathrooms also share identical finishes. The blue mosaic tiles and honey-toned timber veneer cabinets make a showpiece of the kitchen, and have proved an equally successful combination in both the en suite and the main bathroom. With its high serving benches the kitchen retains a sense of being a discrete room: the benches form partial screens which shield the appliances and working spaces from the dining table and lounge setting. Above the benches, however, the cabinets and splashback’s tiles are as integral to the visual appeal of the whole interior as are the living area furnishings and accessories.

As the extension faces south, Robert had to use the internal finishes to increase light intensity to the greatest degree possible. The chalk white paint used on the walls has a soft warm quality which avoids the cold blue tones of some whites. Pale timber and glass furnishings are appropriately light and unobtrusive, and accessories have been kept to a minimum to avoid unnecessary clutter.

North-facing clerestory windows bring in some light, as does the glazed north wall looking out to the side courtyard. The high triangular windows on the east and west walls effectively lever up the roof, creating a raked ceiling to echo the lofty dimensions of the original ceiling. The roof form is a stylish reinterpretation of the lean-to roof typically found at the rear of unrenovated Victorian cottages.

Feedback from the clients has been enthusiastically in favour of the way Robert has reinterpreted their villa. They have the best of both worlds — cosy period-style bedrooms at the front and airy contemporary living at the back — with a sense of harmonious connection between both zones.

A simple white container is perhaps the best way to describe the interior of this narrow victorian terrace. With a mere five metre width to play with, architects AIGP adopted a minimalist approach to create the illusion of generous volumes.

THE EXISTING SINGLE STOREY VICTORIAN terrace required a major overhaul to suit the needs of the current owner. The facade was largely off-limits to alterations — the building being in a conservation zone — and the original front room was sound, with a fine fireplace, and well worth keeping. But the remaining 30-year-old extension was quite dispensable, its timely removal creating space enough for an extensive revamp to the rear of the building.

The client briefed architects AIGP to design a two-storey addition incorporating two bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining/living area, bathroom, en suite and outdoor courtyard. To comply with local heritage conservation requirements, the addition had to be invisible from the street, and had to respect the scale of the surrounding terraces. On an allotment measuring 27 metres by five metres, the challenge was to fit everything in without compromising space and quality of light.

The architects describe the interior as a “simple, pristine container”. Interior elements such as the stair and much of the kitchen have been concealed or recessed to increase the sense of space and reduce visual clutter. In the living area the white walls are deliberately spartan, creating a reflective expanse broken only by vertical supports spaced at wide intervals along the north wall, and a series of full height panels along the south wall. These large pivoting screens conceal the stair when closed, and open to reveal extensive understair storage. Essentially, the doors function as a wall, a balustrade and cupboards.

Against a background of simple white painted and laminated surfaces, some carefully chosen pieces of furniture provide bursts of colour and visual focus. A bold red chaise placed in front of the glass doors in the upstairs bedroom makes a particularly striking statement. Crisp, elegant contemporary pieces of furniture demarcate the dining and living areas and innovative feature lamps add sculptural interest here and at the top of the stairs.

In this minimalist setting, lighting plays a crucial role in bringing warmth and personality to the interior scheme. Concealed in-floor and overhead lighting is placed asymmetrically through the kitchen and living area, illuminating the space in an unusual and captivating way at night. Soft shafts of light from the floor illuminate the walls and ceiling, while the down lights cast a glow on the polished floorboards.

Flooring textures are the other main element in the interior scheme. The dark-toned timber floor in the living area is free of rugs and other visual impediments, while upstairs a neutral carpet is a softer, more restful solution for the main sleeping quarters. The folded aluminium plate stair acts as a contrasting link between the two flooring styles.

This pared down interior relies on intangible, ever-evolving elements such as the intensity of natural light and the changing colour of the sky to create moments of visual drama. The success of the interior is based on the less-is-more adage: in an environment such as this, one special piece of furniture or a well-chosen lamp can have maximum impact where it would be lost in a more complicated setting.

It took the combined skills of an architect, an engineer, a surveyon geotechnical firm and an irrigation consultant to prepare this site, by Brisbane’s Moreton Bay. But the end result was well worth the difficulties - an impressive mansion designed by architect John Price.

LOOKING AT THIS SOLID AND STATELY house today, it is difficult to imagine the worries and setbacks that beset its construction. Essentially, it was a fight against the elements: record-breaking heavy rainfall during the construction period added to already difficult soil and drainage conditions.

The site is on reclaimed land on the once-swampy edge of Queensland’s Moreton Bay. The ground is a highly toxic, reactive clay which required a sophisticated drainage system and the carefully considered placement of buildings. At ground level an out-of-ground monolithic concrete slab is anchored to the site via an interconnected grid of substantial footings. All the stormwater and surface run-off feeds into five 25,000 litre in-ground water tanks, which in turn form the basis of a comprehensive irrigation system.

The clients asked architect John Price to design a two storey family dwelling, combining classical and Mediterranean styles. Their main requirement was that the focus be on entertaining, with an interconnected network of outdoor living spaces and a separate guest accommodation wing. The clients had also lived in Indonesia for some years, an influence which is discernable in the overall character of the house and its grounds — especially in external details such as the pillars, the wide pagoda-style eaves and pavilions, and the carved timber outdoor furnishings. Inside, timber furniture and oriental-style rugs and accessories create a similar effect, with glittering chandeliers and lofty ceilings lending a sense of old world opulence.

As the site is rather exposed — especially where it backs on to the water — John has placed the main residence at the front, surrounding it with landscaped gardens which will offer good shelter once the trees are established. He has used architectural elements to provide additional weather protection: a series of screen walls, covered walkways and open pavilions links the main house to the guest pavilion and beyond to the pool and boat shed.

The key living and entertaining areas are on the lower level of the main house. These formal and casual spaces enjoy a northern orientation to the front of the property, and a close connection with walled gardens and outdoor dining areas to the south-facing rear of the site. The heart of the entertaining zone is the ‘kermesse’, a formal dining pavilion — open on three sides — which features in Indonesian architecture. This area, marked off by sturdy pillars, connects directly with the pool via a straight path.

The impressive front entrance is sheltered by a large portecochere, the roof of which is tiled to echo the style of the house itself. Flanking this structure, a colonnaded walkway leads, on one side, to the garage and, on the other side, to the glass doors leading through to the bar/billiards area and the study.

This house has been designed to cope with the tropics, as well as the difficult site conditions. The cavity walls feature their own insulating layer of air, sandwiched between the inner and outer skins of brickwork. The second-storey bedroom wing rests on a suspended concrete slab, and the roof frames are trussed with integral extension pieces to support the deep roof overhangs. These wide eaves provide solar, as well as weather, protection. Openings to the east and west have been kept to a minimum, and wool insulation in the ceilings helps keep all the rooms cool.

Now that the house is finished and the clients have moved in (the house-warming party was legendary), memories of those site problems are rapidly fading. The family is now able to enjoy their spacious, secure and comfortable retreat.

Looking bass strait squarely in the eye, this holiday house bears tibrent of salt spray, sun, rain, and southwesterlies. Designed by dawson tanner architects, it has been given a robust street facade and look get to weather the elements gracefully.

FOR THIS HOUSE, tucked in behind the scrub-covered sand dunes along Victoria’s rugged Bellarine Peninsula, easy maintenance and durability were always going to be a priority for the owners. The front of the property is skewed towards the southwesterlies blowing in from Bass Strait, and the rear faces the northern sun. You only have to look around at the wind-deformed trees to gauge the ferocity of the conditions!

The clients asked Dawson Tanner Architects to design a four-bedroom holiday house that would be easy to live in, easy to keep clean — and just as easy to lock up and leave for periods at a time. The house serves as a relaxing base for extended holidays: in the distant future it may become the family’s permanent residence.

The clients required a guest wing for when other family members come to stay, an open dining/living area (with separate study/playroom) and an extensive outdoor entertainment area. To meet these requirements, the architect arranged the rooms so that the family bedrooms are on a separate floor to the living areas, and the guest quarters are separated from the communal living spaces. To achieve this, the front entrance and a short hallway leading from it do double duty as a visual and acoustic buffer.

While the street elevation is severe, the V-shaped dwelling is open to the north, with the deck and adjacent family room designed for year round comfort. This north facing aspect is dominated by rows of windows on both levels.

In winter, heating is provided by the sun, which streams through the entire living area, and is aided by the heated concrete slab floor and an internal blockwork wall which acts as a thermal storage wall. In summer, the ground floor windows are shaded and protected by the upper floor, which cantilevers over the living area. The cantilevered curved roof, in turn, shades the upper storey bedroom windows.

The wall of glazing in the main living area opens to axial and curved landscape elements leading out to the boundaries of the property. A long path made from railway sleepers visually continues the horizontal lines of the rough-sawn weathered feature walls. In contrast, the timber deck finishes in a graceful curve creating an enclosure partially embedded in the lawn by way of a shallow retaining wall — a cosy spot for outdoor living.

Facing the street, the house appears to have thrown up an impenetrable shield against the winds coming off the Strait. Here, there are few openings in the severe fortress-like facade of rugged, radially-sawn, stringybark cladding and rendered cement sheeting. Windows are generally high-positioned narrow slots, and the landscaping has been pared down to a restrained arrangement of straight paths, ground cover and gravel. The house has been sited as close as possible to the street to ensure maximum space in the more sheltered rear yard.

With its back and shoulders firmly set against the elements, this dwelling has been shaped to form a cosy enclave for the clients and their young children. Its rugged, no-nonsense exterior will weather with dignity, while the protected north-facing zone will provide a sheltered spot for relaxation and play in all seasons.

GIVEN ITS VENERABLE AGE and picturesque garden setting, any renovation work to this house needed to be sensitive and unobtrusive. After all, the building is part of the architectural heritage of the area — a beautiful rural pocket in central Victoria where vestiges of gold rush splendour still remain.

A magnificent existing courtyard wall, built from local stone, has become the focus for the new wing. Enclosed on three sides, the courtyard extends from the house for quite a distance before meeting with the far wall at the north-facing end of the garden.

The clients decided to make the most of this sunny, sheltered spot by having the new living areas face directly out to the courtyard. In the extension they wanted to make provision for casual living, formal dining, and a bar and billiards area to be shared and enjoyed with their teenaged children and friends. Besides opening out to the pergola-covered courtyard terrace, these living spaces also had to link to the existing kitchen and formal living room.

In his design resolution, architect Michael Rigg has taken into account the heritage flavour of the existing house — both inside and out. The interior had been carefully decorated with details and colours true to the Victorian era, and the exterior still features a number of original period details.

Michael linked the old to the new via a long strip of glazing in the ceiling. Using a vaulted structure, he repeated the lofty ceiling heights and deep cornices seen in the existing rooms to help give the new wing an air of old world solidity. The glazing visually divides the new from the old, creating a sense of there being two separate pavilions. With its walls of glass and multi-paned windows the extension recalls the grand conservatories of England’s nineteenth-century country manor houses.

There’s certainly no shortage of light in these new living spaces, and the glazed ceiling throws additional light back into the existing kitchen and vestibule. Exposed existing brick walls near the bar and dining area contribute to the indoor-outdoor atmosphere.

Michael has arranged the rooms as the clients requested, using an open fireplace to create a partial division between the formal dining area and the billiards table. A sandstone border around the perimeter of the whole area links the interior to the sandstone-paved terrace.

Michael also made clever use of some original structures. An existing outdoor toilet, all brick, has been converted into a commodious cellar accessed via a glass door at the side of the extension, An existing garage has been reroofed, partially rendered and converted into a large office complete with a bay window.

With this extension, the architect has altered the orientation of an older-style house very much for the better. The new wing has brought much comfort and amenity, without diminishing the charm of the original house. And the living spaces are now focussed on the courtyard, and the beautiful old garden sheltered within its stone walls.

Designed around a central core - a nine metric high atrium and stair - this compact dwelling achieves a lot on a very small site squeezed in between victorian cottages up a laneway in melbourne’s albert park, the box-like building reveals dynamic internal spaces and fascinating juxtapositions of materials over three levels.

THE ATRIUM AND STAIR FORMING THE CORE of the building have been designed to provide the main visual focus and also so serve as a spatial demarcation between the two upstairs living zones. The moment one steps into the downstairs entrance foyer, the atrium reveals itself to be a dynamic structural element which sets the pace for the rest of the house.

Architect Ian Browne collaborated with client Tom Ormonde to design a dwelling that would play out energetic rhythms of colour, texture, light and space over three levels. Tom initially drew his own rough floor plan, incorporating the bedrooms and bathroom downstairs, open living on the first level and a terrace up on the roof, positioned to take full advantage of sweeping city skyline views. Ian broadly adhered to this concept, and set about designing the house in detail.

While Tom had initially envisaged the stair section as a square, Ian proposed a far more dramatic and angular resolution — a wedge, capped by a raked glass roof, driven boldly between the building’s two wings — which the client accepted with enthusiasm. It meant sacrificing some floor space, but the resulting sense of drama and space was deemed well worth it. In view of the secluded laneway location, the local council had agreed to relax some of the restrictions pertaining to this heritage conservation precinct — an invitation to creativity neither the client nor architect could resist.

With its raw cement-rendered walls, steel construction and steel mesh landings, the stair has been designed to convey an industrial feel. Downstairs, a polished concrete floor — ground hack to create a speckled black and white terrazzo effect — and stainless steel bathroom surfaces continue the industrial theme. This mood evolves into a warmer, more homely environment on the upper floor where bagged brick off-white walls, timber floors, and Victorian ash veneer cabinets combine with contemporary furnishings to create two distinct living areas.

The external finishes assert the building’s status as a local landmark, rising above a cluster of century-old weather board cottages, rear fences and sheds. The combination of raw cement render, bagged brickwork painted off-white, and anodised aluminium cladding is repeated inside, where most of the internal wails have been matched identically to their corresponding exterior wall. The front entrance is emblematic of the building’s dialectic between edgy industrialism and a relaxed Japanese-inspired aesthetic: here, a brushed aluminium door contrasts with the fish pond lapping gently at the edge of the door, flanked by a bridge of timber slats. The presence of water sets the scene for the Zen-like calm which pervades the entire house.

The bathroom is undergoing a rejuvenation process in tune with design trends world wide. Inspirations come from both the natural environment and the industrial arena: timber veneers, sandstone tiles and granite surfaces resonate with brushed aluminium, stainless steel, glass and chrome. Colours are neutral but not insipid. The palette embraces warm browns, cool greys, clay tones and quiet greens and blues. Chrome tapware and glass surfaces are used to sculptural effect, creating dynamic forms and lustrous highlights.
Utilising the under-stair alcove in an inner city renovation, architect Katie Molnar designed a compact bathroom for the restricted space. The bath is inserted directly under the stair, and the vanity is positioned behind. A Graphic Glass opaque wall allows light to flow through from the stair, while retaining privacy. As the building was too close to the boundary for windows, a skylight with timber battens filters light instead. The Carrara marble vanity features Vola taps and a Caroma Laser handbasin.
* WATER WORLD
Light blue and aqua marine Pazotti mosaic floor tiles give off a watery glow in this bathroom by architects Sam Crawford and Emill Fox. The effect is enhanced by natural light filtering onto the glossy white wall tiles and being reflected in the large mirror. The vanity features a 44 mm rotary cut hoop pine marine plywood veneer, with taps from Brodware’s Eko range. The glossy 200 mm x 280 mm ‘Rose White’ wall tiles are from Tilecraft.
* ESSENTIALLY JAPANESE
A mid Meiji era (circa 1890) kitchen storage chest in cypress and elm has been converted into a vanity in this Melbourne bathroom. On top of the antique a slumped glass basin design by Joseph Licciardi, available through Vetrosystems, is teamed with Fantini ‘Stilo’ tapware from Rogers Seller & Myhill and Taps Design. On the floor, walls, and lining the deep Japanese-style bath are limestone ‘Isernia’ tiles from Domus Ceramics. The bath spout is a Hobspa, from Classic Ceramics, and the pair of shower fittings are Grohe Relaxa Plus, from Rogers Seller & Myhill. The bathroom was designed by David Reade, of Id Entity, and Peter and Danielle Longmore, of Issho.
* HEALTH BENEFITS
The System Pool range of hydromassage baths and showers focus on the importance of well being and relaxation. The spa bath shown here features jets which create a therapeutic whirlpool effect, easing muscle tension and improving blood circulation. With its simple rectangular casing and rounded pond-like form, the unit is styled to suit most bathroom settings. Available from Earp Bros Tiles & Bathrooms.
* ROOM WITH A VIEW
Full length glazing captures the surrounding natural beauty in this bathroom, designed by Perth architect Stephen Hoffman. The Lestro round bench-mounted basin and Neo Hob swivel gooseneck outlet, with Neo single lever tapware, are from Rogers Seller & Myhill, available through Attitude Design Collective.
Extra big tiles are gaining a strong foothold in the world of bathroom design. The tiles shown here are a generous 666 mm x 363 mm. With few visible grouting lines, the effect is to make the room appear larger. To prevent the appearance of screen dots on the tile, special rotative printing technology has been used to increase the definition of the design. A layer of high gloss crystaline glaze has been added to the normal glaze to create a mirror finish. Inquires to Earp Bros Tiles & Bathrooms.

The two faces of this inner sydney dwelling are divided by one metre and one century. Victorian lacework to the right, funky hardwood battens and corrugated steel to the left. And behind it all? relaxed contemporary living orchestrated by Lahz Nimmo architects.
IN ITS ORIGINAL CONDITION THIS VICTORIAN terrace had sound front rooms, with unremarkable rear add-ons and a cluster of sheds at the side. The sheds and add-ons were demolished, leaving architects Annabel Lahz and Andrew Nimmo an unusually generous amount of free space in which to transform the dwelling.
Usually, old terraces sit cheek-by-jowl with their identical neighbours. But in this case, the removed sheds left valuable metres on the southern side — and the client responded positively to the architects’ ideas for expanding sideways. The front entrance, still in the original terrace, now leads into a hallway with the original rooms to the right, retained as living rooms on the ground floor and bedrooms upstairs, and the new section to the left.
Standing at the foot of the new stair, the dividing line becomes apparent. The wall to the right of the stair is actually the exterior wall of the original dwelling, painted greyish blue and now a feature in its own right. The stairway itself forms a spine, either side of which the new and old are anchored. It is also a light well: clerestory windows, in the north wall under the skillion roof to the extension, cast light back into the new upper story studio and down the stairs into the kitchen and living area. The bathroom, clad externally in aluminium sheeting, straddles the old and new halves of the building at the top of the stairs.
In the extension — about as far away from the darkened interior of the Victorian era as one can get — the kitchen elements are set flush against the south wall. This leaves plenty of open space for furniture and traffic flow: this is a zone designed as much for passing through as living in. Front and back, the outdoors is embraced via sliding glass doors inside steel-framed timber-clad vertical lift doors. Facing the street, a masonry wall creates a private courtyard and presents an anonymous facade to the street, while at the rear the doors open out to a raised timber deck.
On the upper level, the studio is similarly an essay in light and colour with windows opening at either end, and vertical timber columns creating a series of internal openings parallel with the stair. The light from the clerestory windows illuminates the yellow feature walls opposite.
Both upstairs and downstairs, the front and rear windows are protected by screens of timber battens, softening the intense light coming from the east and west, and providing privacy facing the street.
At the rear, the removal of existing additions left space enough for an enclosed outdoor area designed by landscape architect Kristen Martin. Square pavers form a path to the shed and workspace (the client is a designer and has had this space fitted out with three data outlets and three-phase power) and the rest is predominantly a ground cover of white pebbles softened by bamboo, moss and lilly pillies.
Behind its chalk-and-cheese exterior, this dwelling is all about harmony — between indoors and outdoors, and within living zones. It’s also about creating a liveable environment in a built-up urban area, hidden from the outside world — yet in constant contact with it.