My Award Entry Into The Victorian Architecture Awards

Here is the presentation I gave last month for the Victorian Architecture awards

A 7 minute presentation of a home I designed for the Victorian Architecture Awards.

A renovation to an existing clinker brick house with a contemporary two storey extension. The owners engaged a builder but also sought to undertake much of the construction works themselves in order to keep costs a low as possible. The architect was not engaged to administer the build.

Simplicity of the design and its construction technology and identifying simple strong gestures that would make the design unique were of paramount importance. The entirety of the existing dwelling was retained. It was stripped back to its structure, underpinned, rewired, re-plumbed, and had all its internal surfaces and windows replaced. The new extension attaches cleanly onto the back of the house allowing the couple to reside in the front part of the dwelling whilst the back was being constructed.

The form and shape of the extension and the construction technology of the design was kept as simple as possible so that as few trades as possible were needed to complete the base building. The concrete slab was polished for its beauty, resilience and cost effectiveness. The steel and timber frame is clad in color bond siding with some rendered cement sheet. The zinc alum flat roof provides a platform for solar panels and is easily accessed via a roof hatch with a built in ladder. The staircase was designed to be fabricated by the projects steel fabricator. Its detailing and utilitarian simplicity create a striking center to the house. Its open structure filters light and permits views from one end of the house to the other.

Long slot windows on the eastern and western facades, skylights over the staircase, bathroom light shafts, and hallway slot windows filter natural light into the all areas of the house in different ways and provide outlooks and vistas that extend the interior spaces outside. The ground floor extension is open connecting the inside of the house with its back yard.

A large open kitchen with a butler’s pantry connects the built in dining area with the family room. The joinery was kept simple and designed so that prefabricated systems could be used and installed by the owners. In addition to repurposing as much of the existing dwelling as possible, solar panels on the roof, electric hydronic heating, double glazing and upgrading of all insulation further enhance the energy efficiency of the home.

The first floor was designed with a dramatic curved cantilevered wall at the back of the house. The shape of the façade generated from an analysis of overlooking. By angling the windows inward into a V shape and blending the apex with a curve overlooking into the neighbors yards is prevented. This further allows for full height glass windows to look down onto the backyard and into the tree tops without screening. Standing in front of this window one gets the sense of floating.

Throughout the day this sculptural glass façade reflects its surrounding trees. At night from within the curved glass reflects its interior back into itself creating distortions akin to abstract compositions.

The Australian Institute of Architects Presentation to Juries offered entrants in the 2023 Victorian Architecture Awards an opportunity to address judges with their nominated projects. Featuring some of Australia’s most prominent architects, Presentation to Juries is a rare opportunity for the public to learn about the influences behind some of Victoria’s most innovative buildings and follow the architectural process from concept to construction.https://www.architecture.com.au/archives/awards/neville-street-mark-macinnis-architect

See the other entrants here