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Front House Back House by Ioa Studio makes a compelling case for doing more with ‘less’.
The owners tasked the architects with creating two projects on a singular 333-square-metre site in Seddon, a suburb within Melbourne’s inner west. This meant a comprehensive renovation of the existing ‘front house’, an old weatherboard within a heritage context, and crafting a new dwelling at the rear of the corner block.
‘The front house and back house needed to be designed so that they could be occupied completely separately when needed, but also linked as a whole,’ Ioa Studio principal architect Amy Bracks says.
‘Other parts of the brief included a sustainable house that the clients could downsize into; that they could age in place in; and that had a connection to the street and neighbourhood.’
While the original weatherboard was in great condition, Amy says it needed ‘a lot of love’ internally to increase its connection to the garden and maximise natural light.
The transformation included a minor extension to the north and a small ‘pop out’ area added to the bathroom at the side of the house, making way for a bathtub — strategic tweaks that allowed the existing roof to be retained, with the original timber rafters exposed above the dining space.
The house was also retrofitted to be as energy efficient as possible, thanks to new insulation, double glazed windows, and solar panels.
‘Space was maximised across both spaces by “building less”. We maximised the built floor areas, and only added additional floor area where necessary,’ Amy adds.
Meanwhile, building the 51-square-metre ‘back house’ was a real exercise in how to get the most out of a small space.
The self-contained dwelling is deliberately adaptable, designed to shift from being the owners’ home office, to hosting visiting family from interstate — aided by innovative features like a dining table that flips up when not needed, an open staircase, a built in desk, a mezzanine level, and balcony.
‘As the footprint of the back house was quite small, we added to the feeling of the space by creating volume and having elements slip past each other, using skylights and low windows,’ Amy says.
The curved roof ensures the new structure doesn’t dominate the garden or the original house. And wherever possible, waste from demolition was reclaimed to create unexpected details that tie in with the character of the weatherboard.
Repurposed red bricks form new details in the back house, as the kitchenette showcases tiles salvages from a local stone masons old work bench.
Even the stained glass windows removed to open up the back of the main home were reused inside, and the green and red accents throughout offer nods to the colour scheme of the weatherboard’s facade.
The layered result is equal parts classic and contemporary, as the two homes are now poised in conversation to one another, with the welcoming garden nestled in between.
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