This quintessential 70s suburban brick house had all of the shortcomings typical of its period — however with equal quantities of appeal.
The house owners — jeweller Liz Ickiewicz and her husband — liked the robustness of the brown brick abode, and have been notably hooked up to the arched entrance porch. The following renovation, designed by Fowler and Ward, due to this fact targeting fixing the issues while embracing and dealing with the character.
‘The shoppers have been the visionaries,’ explains Jessie Fowler, director of Fowler and Ward. ‘They determined that this specific home deserved a thought-about, delicate and architectural renovation, quite than to be knocked down.’
The aim was easy; tweak the home ‘simply sufficient’ to function as a sensible, brilliant and extra sustainable household house.
‘Liz’s temporary included a picture of a really northern-suburbs entrance backyard that includes a concrete dolphin fountain. After seeing that, we knew she was severe about retaining the brown-brick vibes!’, says Jessie.
One of many fundamental issues the house introduced was lack of pure mild. The south-facing lounge was positioned on the rear of the home with little connection to the big yard, and was fully separated from the eat-in kitchen.
However, there have been additionally loads of positives. The shoppers didn’t require additional area, quite areas that felt extra related, heat and brilliant. The three present bedrooms and entrance lounge have been additionally ‘greater than sufficient’, with the primary bed room being giant sufficient to simply accommodate a brand new ensuite throughout the present footprint.
Fowler and Ward addressed the dearth of pure mild by opening up the again of the home to create an open plan residing, eating and kitchen area. The outdated kitchen in the meantime was transformed into an environment friendly companies hub that now accommodates the household rest room, powder room, laundry and a compact examine.
A small 8sqm extension was added to include a north-west dealing with window, which along with an east-facing kitchen window, skylight and enormous financial institution of sliding glass doorways, works to flood the again of the house with mild.
Retaining the extension tucked beneath the eaves of the house’s rectangular hipped roof required a decrease ceiling peak. However as Jessie explains, ‘Inherent constraints of present homes typically present the very best design alternatives, and we like to make the most of them!’
To offset the decrease ceiling, Fowler and Ward designed a sunken lounge that not solely properly delineates the residing space from the open-plan areas, but in addition supplies a extra intimate connection to the backyard.
‘Some areas simply draw you in, and that is one in every of them,’ says Jessie.
When it got here to the color palette, the architects took their cues from the period of the home; the heat of the unique brown brick, present timber trim and amber glass sliding doorways. Colors within the south-facing residing areas are brilliant and barely much less saturated than the wealthy heat tones on the entrance of the home.
The ensuing house is every thing the shoppers hoped it might be; mild, heat, brilliant, not too huge and with an exquisite connection to the outside.
Jessie provides, ‘[This project] demonstrates that this typically neglected housing inventory solely wants minimal intervention to be invigorated and accommodate up to date household life.’
