Jean-Paul Rollo Architects Pty Ltd.

Middle Park Studio

Middle Park Studio
© Peter Bennetts

MIDDLE PARK STUDIO

Jean-Paul Rollo Architects

AREA
51.0 sqm

YEAR
2012

LOCATION
Middle Park VIC 3206, Australia

CATEGORY
Offices

Middle Park Studio
© Peter Bennetts

Text description provided by architect.

Perched atop an existing garage in one of Middle Park’s narrower laneways is the site for this small studio for an artist.

Rested on four steel posts, fixed to the existing concrete slab in each corner of the garage, floats the steel structure of the new construction.

Constrained by 5 metre wide slithers of attached single fronted dwellings, this project manipulates the barn-shaped planning envelope by dividing the box horizontally and thoughtfully shifting its leftover parts to comply with the strict inner-city planning scheme and preserve the private open space of the neighbouring dwellings.

Middle Park Studio
© Peter Bennetts
Middle Park Studio
© Peter Bennetts
Middle Park Studio
© Peter Bennetts

Externally the first-floor studio is a box split into two and off-set horizontally in two directions. Internally the ‘split’ creates a shelf, a window sill, a recess for joinery and a nook for a desk.

The result is a robust rectilinear form which, passing by confuses the usual scale of habitable internal space while inside not an inch of the tiny footprint is wasted providing adequate open work.

Middle Park Studio
© Peter Bennetts
Middle Park Studio
© Peter Bennetts

And desk space as well as incorporating extensive plywood bookshelving, file drawers, customised paper-stock drawers and an extremely compact bathroom.

Ornamentation is stripped and the material palette draws upon its bluestone laneway context: metal deck and fibreglass wall cladding. Inside against the white walls is only timber and the glass partitions of the bathroom.

Middle Park Studio
© Peter Bennetts


Middle Park Studio
© Peter Bennetts
Middle Park Studio
© Peter Bennetts
Middle Park Studio
Middle Park Studio
© Peter Bennetts
Middle Park Studio
© Peter Bennetts


Middle Park Studio
Ground Floor Plan
Middle Park Studio
First Floor Plan


Middle Park Studio
Section

Jean-Paul Rollo Architects Pty Ltd.
T +61 412 966763
Jean-Paul Rollo Architects Pty Ltd.
Fitzroy North VIC 3000, Australia