north fitzroy house

10b. NORTH FITZROY HOUSE

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The project presented to us by the clients was a small modification to a single-storey terrace house – to ‘open it up’ to the garden and ‘provide more room’. The sort of almost archetypal renovation job that is not spectacular, not particularly visible, low-budget, time consuming…

However this type of small modification is the reality of a lot of domestic construction being done in Melbourne, so it seems important for architects to engage with it. We wanted to investigate and understand something about this culturally-specific condition.

In a job like this, rather than inventing new forms, we ask what else can be achieved through the existing repertoire of forms, and what spaces can be found within existing building and site parts (ie. unused spaces, gaps and so on).

Our approach to 'extension' was to find existing parts of the building and literally continue them. We felt a responsibility to work more inventively with what already exists, keeping as much as possible of the old building and making solutions that carefully suited the site conditions and contemporary needs.

EXTRUSION

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long section

new plan

existing plan

The new plan doesn't enlarge the existing building - it rearranges the rooms into a new configuration; using side setbacks, odd spaces where party walls step in and out, and making a single room that feels big (even though quite small), with a direct relationship to the garden.

Ways of working include making use of the gap where something is removed - the old chimney space becomes an opportunity for a new skylight - and finding new spaces and ways of inhabiting existing built volume: for example, an attic space in the unusually large front roof.

But these moves have other implications, such as the need for a stair, which then impacts on the other existing rooms, and involves them in a new dialogue.

FINDING SPACE

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Starting from the street front, which remains unchanged: a new opening for the stair adds to the existing series of door openings along the terrace corridor; the stair leading up to the attic is a complete space in itself, unaware of its volume inhabited underneath (for example) as a bed space; the corridor leads to the new open room, with as-found wall alignments making spaces for shelving; and the kitchen proper is packaged into the minimum possible space to allow the workbench to be used for other things when not cooking.

By working carefully with the actual dimensions required for activities, the room feels large and somehow comfortable even though everything is quite tight.

CORRIDOR / ROOM

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In considering how a large single space can be made, a standard contemporary construction system of gang-nail trusses easily spans the width of the site, and allows for cantilevers where existing walls run out.

The new room exists below this large roof.

The trusses were supplied as a ‘design and construct’ package, their final form designed by the manufacturer (different to our original suggestion) as the most efficient and economic solution.

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TRUSS

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The structure and its lining are considered, and consequently affect the image of the building. The last bay is given extra attention to detail, as the threshold between inside and out, providing a covered porch and an interstitial workbench space with skylight above.

Decisions about what to clad and what to reveal allow for a surprising scale, using the full depth of the structure. The selection and placement of internal and external linings, while very simple, are worked out in detail and the final appearance reveals all of its parts to some degree.

In this type of project, the location of invention is in the lived experience and in the process of making. The architectural image is a consequence of the development of the making, and its subsequent occupation.

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LINING

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North Fitzroy House NMBW Architecture Studio 2004 - 2005 Project Team Nigel Bertram Lucinda McLean Marika Neustupny First published The Ultimate Urban Makeover, Unique Architectural Renovations, Images Publishing, 2007, pp.104-107. review: Stephen Crafti The Age Wednesday October 26, 2005, p.23 (Domain section) review: Jenny Brown Saturday November 11, 2006, pp.4-5 (Domain section) review: Melinda Houston Architect Victoria Awards 2005 issue, p.29 Awards Architecture Award Residential Architecture, Alterations + Additions Australian Institute of Architects (Vic) Awards, 2005 Photography NMBW

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