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Spaces:

City
Coastal
Country
Developments
Interiors
Currently Selling

Projects:

Three Angle House
PERFECT-IMPERFECT HOUSE
Two Angle House
Tiro Townhouses
Argo
House of Bronzed Steel & Stone
CRESSY TOWNHOUSES
PLEATED HOUSE
Shadow Roll House
91 Alexandra Avenue
Convertible Courtyards House
The Mayfair
MILROY STREET
H.I.V.E. X FIVE
SARGOOD STREET
Cumquat Tree House
Oakleigh Road
Luxford
Mathoura Road
Heather Street Townhouses
222 Burke Road
Tripartite Homestead
Karinya
Lori
New Ormond
Kindred
125 Alexandra Avenue
Alexandra Street

PLEATED HOUSE

City / Coastal

How do you make a Pleat?  First you fold, then you heat.  A folded roof form and charred cypress cladding are the obvious highlights of this extension to an existing single storey weatherboard in beachy Highett.

Given the home was going to be built by a well-traveled roof plumber and his design aware partner, a simple flat roofed box out the back just wasn’t going to be an option.

Equally a homage to the folded plate roof forms familiar to midcentury modernism (Donald Wexler, Barry Berkus, Pierre Koenig to name a few) and the iconic bathing boxes which dot Port Phillip Bay, the folded roof was implemented to allow for clerestory windows to let light deep into the living spaces of the extension from the north, east and west.  The six different shaped clerestory windows were a key strategy to addressing the day lighting issues inherent in a south facing rear yard.

A large box gutter separates old from new and kept untidy spouting out of sight and out of mind.  The central valley of the roof form was centered on the existing entry to the home, thus framing a view to the family (and dog) sized rear yard.

The client personally and lovingly charred and oiled the cypress himself in the back yard and the grooving of the ship lapped cladding informed the dark grooved kitchen.  If you look close enough at the images you may even notice a charred cypress clad dog house!

Two new bathrooms were created in the existing part of the house and some internal walls were repositioned to create one master suite with walk-through robe and two subsequent bedrooms.

The clients rave about the space and upon entering it’s easy to understand why.  The breeze through the house, simple approachable tactility of the materials, the even day lighting and large open doors and windows all produce the relaxing sense that you’ve just arrived to a beachside and carefree holiday.  Sitting around the indoor/outdoor servery, opening a bottle of wine, roasting some peppers and chatting with our lovely clients about some past travel adventures only completes the whole enviable lifestyle experience.

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The foundations of great architecture aren't just space and light, they're character and life.