Renovated terrace home is the best of both worlds

Architect: Rob Nerlich, McMahon and Nerlich

From the architects: 

The project transforms a small Victorian terrace into a three-storey contemporary family home with three bedrooms and a variety of internal and external living zones. The retained heritage front shows very little of the additions. The new built form is clothed in a singular dark skin, blurring the lines between roof and wall, mimicking the myriad outbuildings – all higgledy piggedly – which can be seen crowding the rear of the terraces from the courtyards behind, with simplicity, minimalism and contextualism.

The project is conceived with respect for the existing building and the context. Inside the ground floor the two front rooms are retained as conceptually separate spaces. New incisions allow interconnection between the rooms and the entrance hall without the rooms losing their individuality. To the first floor the front room is retained as the main bedroom with a freestanding joinery introduced to improve the proportions of the room. 

New areas are more contemporary. To the ground floor a combined kitchen and living zone opens to the rear garden with floor to ceiling glazed sliding doors. Above the ground floor the new spaces are clad and roofed in a singular material (dark Colorbond steel) with a subtle sculptural form.

The clients had a very clear idea of the functional spaces required and their locations; for a family residence with a variety of internal and external living areas, three bedrooms and bathrooms to suit, and a second floor bathroom to allow for the upper level living zone to function as a guest bedroom if required.

Myer Consulting provided a structural design solution that worked well with our architectural intentions. Hydronic heating and air conditioning are well integrated into the project. Contractors Sinjen Group made a significant contribution to the project – they were proactive in finding solutions to issues that arose. They constructed the project to a very high standard of finish and were able to hand the project over before the programmed completion date.

The clients furniture and artwork have also added a wonderful finishing touch for the project.

A linear roof light extends the solar access to this living area through the day and casts ever changing light over a long white art wall.

The terrace just catches a water view across rooftops and has a panoramic skyline view along St Kilda Rd and the expanding city to the east and north.

There are so many striking aspects to this home – the black and white material palette, the dark colorbond skin wrapping the raking extension to the rear, the full-height frame black doors to the courtyard which stack neatly away to dissolve the interior-exterior threshold, the linear skylight which affords glimpses of the roof form above. 

However, perhaps the most striking aspect is the incredible roof deck, which was able to utilise a moribund, inaccessible and wasted space, and turn it into a place of celebration; of the heritage roofscape context, of the bayside views beyond, and of the final ‘frame’  in the spatial narrative of frame terrace itself.

Designed by: McMahon & Nerlich

Story by: Trendsideas

Photography by: Mish Edstein