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While the story of Goldilocks And The Three Bears tells of a fussy girl who has to try three different beds, chairs, and breakfasts before finding her perfect match, this Brisbane renovation only needed one change to make the house ‘just right’.
The owners engaged architects Maytree Studios with a clear vision: to design a new ‘room in the garden’ for their late 1970s house, originally designed by G. Eric. Parups.
‘The home combines load-bearing brick construction with courtyard-based planning,’ Maytree Studios architect and creative director Rebecca Caldwell says.
‘Orthogonal house forms are deliberately offset by curved brick walls, which set up a home that was interior facing rather than outwardly connected to its yard.’
This observation set the architects’ focus on removing the existing small dining room at the edge of the garden, and replacing it with a 20-square-metre extension, to strengthen the house’s connection with its backyard.
Taking cues from the original cellular floor plan and strong roof forms, Maytree Studios introduced a new volume clad in standing-seam metal sheets, in a deep red hue.
‘Contemporary materials distinguish the addition without imitation, allowing old and new to sit confidently alongside one another,’ Rebecca adds.
Large windows and sliding glass doors deliberately draw the leafy landscape deep into the interior, as the elongated dining space now opens fully to the garden, pool, and piazza beyond.
Inside, the sloping roofline and void helped harness natural light and breeze, which also benefits the adjoining reworked kitchen.
‘Rather than increasing overall scale, the project focuses on proportion, light and connection to achieve a sense of generosity,’ Rebecca says, noting many other character-filled residences like this could also be transformed with a similarly restrained approach.
The renovation has successfully created a new beating heart of the house that caters to the owner’s daily rituals of cooking, entertaining, and relaxing outdoors.
In other words, a ‘fairytale ending’.
