Poster
  • Location
    Elwood, VIC
  • Status
    Complete
  • Type
    Residential
  • Size
    490sqm
  • Internal Area
    320sqm
  • Team
    Rob Kennon, Jack Leishman
  • Collaborators
    Tate Constructions, Eckersley Garden Architecture, Mike Neighbour, Meyer Consulting
  • Film
    Derek Swalwell
  • Photographer
    Derek Swalwell
  • Awards
    AIA Victorian Architecture Awards - Elwood Bungalow (Named Award Winner), Houses Awards - Elwood Bungalow (Shortlist)
  • Publications
    Elwood Bungalow, Celebrating the Sky & Garden, Elwood Bungalow - Awards Edition
  • Tags
    Housing, Renovation, Landscape, Inter-war, Californian Bungalow

This project relies on the idea of subtracting space as much as adding it. Occupying the land of a formerly overgrown, overshadowed and overlooked rear garden [1], this renovation of an interwar bungalow is driven by a response to the site. It embodies a desire to turn away from the neighbouring, blank, boundary walls, overlooking windows and encroaching balconies that surround it, in favour of an inward dial plan that axially and infinitely looks onto itself.

Inspired by the planning of Roy Grounds’ Hill Street House, this centralised outdoor space is a sun tracker and a sky framer. Connection to the outdoors permeates daily life within the home, and one’s experience within this space is never absent of garden or sky [2].

[5] The architecture of this project takes on a recessive language; It doesn’t compete with the existing building or the busyness of the daily life within, rather it sits as a backdrop – materially restrained and formally simplistic
The design leverages its relationship with the sun to increase thermal mass and natural ventilation. It uses the roof for solar power generation and incorporates a hanging garden that will soon double as a shade curtain
[1] The project occupies the land of a formerly overgrown, overshadowed and overlooked rear garden, leading the renovation to be driven by a response to the site. The plan turns away from the neighbouring, blank, boundary walls, overlooking windows and encroaching balconies that surround it, in favour of an inward dial plan that axially and infinitely looks onto itself.
[2] The design is inspired by the planning of Roy Grounds’ Hill Street House, with a centralised outdoor space that acts as a sun tracker and a sky framer. Connection to the outdoors permeates daily life within the home, and one’s experience within this space is never absent of garden or sky
1/3
The circular garden can be entirely absorbed into the dial plan by retracting the curved glazed panels that line the perimeter
1/2
[3] The compact plan is organised into a series of radially connected spaces (kitchen, living, study, main bedroom and ensuite) that efficiently aligns with the family’s communal lifestyle. The absence of corners bordering this the centralized garden facilitates a continuous fluctuation of views and lighting conditions into and across the space
[4] A layering of landscape, textiles, furniture and joinery filters and divides the open-plan arrangement into a series of flexible, permeable zones
1/3
The modestly sized courtyard is supplemented by a wide, landscaped pathway connecting the back garden with the front garden, and to its leafy context
A kids rumpus room has been fitted within the existing roof structure and is lined in carpet for sound absorption

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