I
t has often been said that good design, and good design solutions,
make the outcome look easy – almost effortless. There is a sense
of comfort and ease pervading this renovation and it is fair to
say that the design experience and skill required to make the
result look so natural are considerable.
Located on a leafy suburban street near a well-known school,
the Balwyn House makes for a civilized neighbour. In an interesting
piece of historical circularity, the site was the childhood home
of the grandfather of the children now living in the house. He is
said to be endlessly pleased to know that his grandsons are daily
treading the path that took him from his house to his school so
many decades ago.
The existing dwelling on the site was a 1980s period piece, down
to the butt-jointed glass bay windows, the bland colour scheme and
the pencil conifers choking the light out of the front entrance. What
director David Neil and his team at Neil Architecture have wrought
in its place is a remarkable transformation, one that breathes new
life, and new light, into the bones of the original house. Having seen
the “before” photo, I can say that the house is now unrecognizable,
and that’s a good thing.02 Picture windows framed
by sharply detailed boxes
bring views of the garden
deep into the house.With a few significant exceptions, the transformation of the
Balwyn House has been mostly a matter of new colours, new
materials, new surfaces and new furnishings. Combined, these
things give it an entirely new aspect. One of the exceptions to that
regime was an adjustment to the plan of the rear living room, which
saw divided rooms liberated into an open-plan space through the
removal of walls.
Another exception to the cosmetic changes, with a lasting
impact on the exterior appearance of the dwelling, was the
demolition and removal of the bay windows and their replacement
with sharply detailed protruding boxes. Each box frames a view of
the yard through a large picture window, bringing the sight of the
garden deep into the house.
Finally, and perhaps most strikingly, David proposed the
replacement of the existing front wall of the house with a new
double-gabled facade clad in charcoal-stained timber, incorporating
an expanded entry. This thoroughly transformed the appearance
of the dwelling in the streetscape. Whereas previously the front
yard bled indiscriminately out into the street across a struggling
lawn, the handsome facade is now mediated by a front fence and02