A Light Addition by Office Mi–Ji

A Gentle Addition is an structure of shock. From the entrance elevation, the addition presents as an exquisite, light-weight rectilinear pavilion wrapped in corrugated galvanised metal, showing at first as a pointy departure from the stable Spanish Mission dwelling it sits atop. Solely via nearer inspection does the venture reveal itself as a delicate connector between a patchwork of kinds.

The shoppers, a household of 4, approached Workplace Mi–Ji with a modest funds and a want for more room, gentle and air flow of their present 117-square-metre dwelling. The ensuing 49-square-metre, upper-level addition accommodates two bedrooms, a powder room and an ensuite.

Whereas the addition responds aptly to the shoppers’ temporary, its brilliance feels most obvious when seen in context. The home kinds a part of a set of 4 Spanish Mission townhouses in St Kilda East, every with additions articulated in markedly other ways. Two lengthen the unique language via faux-historical detailing, whereas one other adopts a recent expression. The venture additionally negotiates a 2012 renovation by David Luck Structure, which launched a white rectilinear quantity on the rear, containing a kitchen, lounge and eating room, and creating contrasting back and front identities. This duality, mixed with the various architectural approaches of its neighbours, formed Workplace Mi–Ji’s intervention and knowledgeable how the addition presents to the road.

Modest in scale and set effectively again, the upper-level extension permits the charming authentic facade to keep up its visible prominence. From the rear, the rectilinear type of the higher storey enters right into a direct dialog with the 2012 renovation, adopting comparable proportions. In doing so, A Gentle Addition brings coherence to the house’s layered interventions.

Throughout the 2012 renovation, the shoppers organized for a metal body to be put in, in anticipation of a future second storey. Although the body allowed for a bigger addition, Workplace Mi–Ji guided the shoppers towards a smaller, extra thought of footprint. To protect a way of spatial generosity, the design incorporates a inexperienced awning roof over the bottom ground, demonstrating that you simply don’t must preserve including rooms to create worth – considerate restraint may be simply as impactful.

Restraint can be mirrored within the architects’ materials technique. Confronted with a decent funds, premium supplies have been reserved for parts most vital to the shoppers and most expensive to switch. Nowhere is that this extra evident than within the U-channel glazing, which wraps the constructing and attracts high-level gentle into the addition. Elsewhere, extra economical supplies have been employed, together with flexible ply – used cleverly as an inside end moderately than a substrate – and the metal cladding, chosen for his or her affordability, ease of substitute and visible character.

The inside is tactile and wealthy in distinction, combining comfortable finishes comparable to cork with tougher parts, together with an angled, hand-buffed aluminium joinery unit. Inside the sitting room of the prevailing dwelling, which had undergone some modifications, white render was reinstated to proceed the textural language of the unique inside. A white-painted datum line, current all through the unique home, was reintroduced in blackbutt timber within the sitting room, providing a brand new tackle an present function. The road intersects via a beforehand hid fire and a daring purple column, reinforcing the connection between the house’s historic and modern layers.

White render extends alongside the staircase wall. The stair ceiling is sloped and punctuated by two skylights, one on the base and one on the high. The decrease skylight bathes the beforehand dim sitting room with comfortable southern gentle, whereas the higher skylight illuminates the touchdown. A 250-millimetre hole between the touchdown and staircase, stuffed with fibreglass grating, permits gentle from the higher skylight to filter right down to the decrease degree.

A Gentle Addition is rather more than what first meets the attention. The extent of thought and care invested in negotiating complicated present circumstances on a decent funds makes it simple to see why it was recommended within the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2025 Victorian Structure Awards. Maybe an much more telling measure of success is the enjoyment it brings to its occupants, who, I’m informed, usually flip the lights on and rush outdoors to admire their dwelling from the road, delighting within the addition’s luminous, light-box high quality.