This renovation stretches the existing living space out into the garden

Architect: Mark Aronson Architecture

Project: XYZ house

From the architect:

The existing City Beach house was located at The Boulevard, a tree-lined wide drive with generous grass verges that connects the Perth suburbs of Leederville and Wembley with the Indian Ocean.

The original dwelling was designed by architect GE Swallow in 1962, and is a beautifully intact example of early 60’s West Australian modernist Architecture. 

It comprises a low-pitched metal roof, with Donnybrook Stone and painted brickwork on the façade, whilst internally Jarrah floorboards and slim natural brickwork are expressed.

Located on a sloping site, the original building is split level with a double garage off the street and steps to a raised North-facing Verandah. 

The site is on a North-South alignment and is protected from the worst of the strong southwesterly gusts from the ocean, being a distance of 1000m away to the beach and sheltered via adjacent trees.

The clients, a young and design conscious professional couple, wished to extend their house into the garden to make better use of their private outdoor living space, and maximise the indoor/ outdoor lifestyle.

The existing condition of the house incorporated a renovated kitchen, whic​h was located across the back wall of the house. This element did not retain any original features of the 1960s house, but formed a visual barrier between the living spaces and garden.

The owners had recently built a swimming pool and wished to make more of this. 

The concept was to extrude the existing living space out and into the garden. 

This alignment took the form of a new axis at right-angles to the original house, a narrow, glazed single-storey addition that faced South and West and allowed for a more efficient use of space and corresponded to the constraints of the lot dimensions.

The concept to connect the pool with the living spaces arrived at a large South-facing glazed opening terminating in a framed view to the pool and garden beyond. 

The picture frame window also serves as outside/inside window seats. The existing front door to the original house was relocated to create a clear link connecting the front and back of the building. 

The picture frame extends across this alfresco to enclose the opening, as an extended piece of structure that terminates in the key view to the pool. 

The kitchen became a linear space separating the old house with the living/ dining areas and opening out into the alfresco entertainment and barbeque area.

​The exterior and interior of the house was carefully refurbished to reinstate the modernist dwelling, respectfully retaining the integrity of the old house.

The transition between existing and new surfaces was controlled. Polished concrete of the addition meets with Jarrah floorboards abutting along a simple steel edge. 

Designed by: Mark Aronson Architecture

Story by: Trends