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Architecture has a way of making us rethink what’s possible in a small space — especially when clever proportions and an unexpected shape can make a home feel so much bigger than its footprint suggests.
Office MI—JI‘s 45-square-metre extension of a Brunswick family home is such an example.
The brief was simple: create a kitchen that opened out to the backyard. The response was anything but conventional. Rather than following the existing geometry of the house, Office MI—JI introduced a bold triangular form.
‘The house had a beautiful backyard filled with low-lying gum trees the clients had planted; however, the laundry was in the middle of this garden and the existing kitchen only had a small door out to this north-facing garden,’ explains Office MI—JI co-director Jimmy Carter.
‘As such, it was decided to prioritise opening up the house to the back garden.’
Using a simple palette of concrete, stainless steel and terracotta marmoleum, this project’s genius lies in the openness it gives to an otherwise tight space.
The original dining room was reworked to create a generous bathroom, separate water closet and European laundry, giving the homeowners the luxury of two toilets while making better use of the available space.
This left the back of the house free for a new kitchen and dining space to open out toward the garden.
For the kitchen, Jimmy decided against inserting an island bench, which would take up much of the space, instead using the shape of a triangle to reduce the east-facing boundary walls and let natural light enter the space without the risk of overheating from harsh western light.
The stainless steel kitchen benchtop sits along the wall, leaving the room open to light, while the fridge and pantry are concealed to optimise space.
‘The ability of the design to keep the kitchen joinery set back from the windows makes it very easy to access the garden while ensuring the lighting quality is high,’ Jimmy says.
‘This controlled edge between inside and outside then ensures the space internally has a sense of largesse even though it is very small.’
While most budgetary constraints were solved by controlling the size of the build, Jimmy also reduced storage costs by inserting shelves and ledges rather than cupboards and drawers.
This new kitchen and dining area redefines the home’s relationship to the backyard — proving what can be achieved through resourceful design — and gives this project its (more than) appropriate name: A Triangle Out The Back.
