Houses Australia — Issue 118 2017

T

his project came to our newly formed
practice in early 2007 following a
recommendation from my previous
employer, who was supportive
of my move to private practice. It was a
renovation of a house located next to the
railway line just around the corner from our
first office, in Cremorne, Melbourne. The
house was unusual, as despite its Victorian
appearance, the original termite-riddled
dwelling had been completely rebuilt ten
years earlier as a replica, at the insistence
of the city council due to its heritage
zoning. Our clients had bought the house
post-rebuild and were looking to enlarge
it at the rear and provide bedrooms and
space for their two young children, while
removing the “fake history” that had
been overlaid on the existing extension.
The house is located hard on the railway

line between South Yarra and Richmond

train stations, with six train lines just

metres from the site boundary. Visually and

acoustically the trains were, and are, ever-

present. This was our clients’ second house

on this stretch of the railway line and they

were not fazed by these conditions – their

interest was more in how the architecture

engaged with their garden and in creating

a unique response to the site.

Despite its appearance, the home had

a structure that was only ten years old and

it seemed too good to demolish given the

budget that we had to work to. The site size

and heritage requirements deemed that the

project required state government planning

approval and we soon established that we

were not going to get a larger envelope on

the southern boundary than the existing

single-pitched roof form.

0 10 m

5

6

7

8

8

2

2 2

9

1

3

4

Ground floor 1:400

First floor 1:400 Section 1:400

1 Entry

2 Bedroom

3 Main bedroom

4 Retreat

5 Dining

6 Kitchen

7 Living

8 Store

9 Rumpus

We decided there was value in keeping

the existing large roof trusses as the basis

for the location of the first-floor walls,

and by adding in a cantilevered first-floor

structure on the northern garden side

we were able to create a circulation zone

outside the bedrooms and acoustically

improve the rooms.

We were quite interested in how the

architecture at the first-floor level would

engage with the train lines, as this floor

level and the train line level were virtually

the same, with a separation of only two

to three metres from the end of the house

to the first line. We liked the idea of the

main northern facade having a billboard-

like quality that engaged with the trains

but also addressed the garden below and

regulatory overlooking requirements for

a neighbouring property. The idea of an