Post Occupancy Vist: A Renovation in Thornbury, Melbourne

Project Status: Construction completed.

We popped by to see clients Helen and George who are now settled into their renovated house in Thornbury. It was great to hear about their experiences since moving back into their house post renovation. The spaces have been working well for the two of them along with their two kids with plenty of area for the four of them and a much better connection to outside. We were pleased to hear that the screening to the north and west on both levels work well in mitigating summer sun and allowing the internal spaces to feel private. It was valuable to learn that additional screening to the west facing kitchen window felt necessary for the hotter months which they’ll be adding shortly.

There’s a few quick snaps from our visit shown below. Below that, you can find a previous article that discusses how this project came about.

Case Study – A Family’s Renovation Project in the Northern Suburbs of Melbourne.

For this project, the clients first engaged a builder recommended drafting service. In this professional relationship, the designers can lose their independence from the builders, which usually leads to money driving the project rather than good design. When the project was priced, the client received a relatively low figure, which seemed great per square metre of built area. Though this figure didn’t include large expenses including the kitchen, bathroom and laundry fit-outs, or decks. Luckily, the owner was able to add these expenses to the building cost received and realised even with the drafting service and simple design, they were looking at a very high price tag. While the building cost initially appeared lower, it only offered a building shell, while the extra costs involved in creating a liveable space drove the price high.

At this point, the clients approached us for a re-design. To keep the overall cost within their budget, we designed less building area that more efficiently fitted the needs of the clients brief. With the reduced area, it will be more cost effective while prioritising a design sensibility that the project deserves. Our approach is to have full transparency with our clients at all stages. Everything in and outside of the building price is itemized so the client can always have an explicit understanding of what the total project cost is going to be. Our aim is to prevent clients finding out down the track that there are added costs for items forgotten or undisclosed.  

When we first visited the site, it was clear that the front half of the existing house was appealing and salvageable. The brick house was structurally sound, with a heritage façade that contributed to the streetscape. However, the rear half of the house, a rectangular box extension haphazardly, lumped onto the back, was a different story. It had inadequate living and dining space that was awkward to use. It was as though when the extension was originally designed, no one placed furniture in the rooms to see what actually fit, and whether the spaces were functional. The extension was poorly orientated to the west, and had virtually no relationship to outside. The site has a gradual slope that the extension didn’t respond to. The back of the house was over a metre above the ground, which created a huge divide between the internal and external spaces. It was a completely non-contextual approach.

Our response was to create an extension that is set back and therefore less imposing on the street frontage. The design incorporates a contemporary shape that is in discourse with the existing heritage aspects of the building, rather than just mimicry. A similar approach was applied to our project at Elm Street, Northcote.

From our experience of building economics, it made no sense to salvage the unsympathetic previous extension. From the point of view of cost effectiveness and holistic design, it was better to start the extension fresh. This way we could create split-levels within the house that respond directly to the natural slope of the site.

The decision was made early on to create a distinction between old and new with the location of the demolished extension being the defining line between the two sections. Our approach is most often keeping as much of the retained area of the house intact and untouched structurally. With minimal change, comes minimal cost. That way we can focus the budget and effort on creating a really special new addition.

Creating a House that Fits a Family’s Needs

One aspect of the design phase that architects offer extremely well is an honest and detailed program that fits the functions and uses of a client’s lifestyle. Creating relationships is an extremely important and satisfying part of every project we enter.  There’s a whole lifestyle discussion about who goes upstairs and what happens downstairs. We find clients usually think, "Oh, just put all the children upstairs then they're up out of the way" unaware that this can lead to more built area. For this project, the clients agreed to put their main bedroom and an ensuite upstairs, which creates a quiet retreat just for them and is a smaller first level footprint than a space for multiple children.

As architects, we sit with our clients and take a brief, which helps us to ascertain the right building to house their particular lifestyle. For this project, the couple have two children. They both have an aspect of their work based at home. It’s easy to keep adding rooms to fit additional requirements, but we find it more successful to create versatile nooks that offer a range of options for the parents to work in, or the kids to play and study in. Creating nooks means the children can be doing activities in an adaptable area, while the parents can monitor casually from an adjoining room. Upstairs, the adults can use their study nook to get away and work quietly, do the household bills or decompress.

The design encompasses an open plan kitchen, dining and living area that connects directly to outside, while a more informal living space is positioned two thirds of a level higher. We’ll always have a discussion about TVs as every family has a different preference to their presence in the home. The other facet of this family’s lifestyle that was important to consider was that they have a very big extended family. When they have the family over on a Sunday for lunch, they often have 30 people attend. Factors like this weave their way into creating a program that adapts to use. But really, in terms of budget, building less area and putting less building on top will most likely be the most cost effective approach.