Justin Mallia Architecture

Yan Lane

Yan Lane
© Emma Cross

YAN LANE

Justin Mallia

ARCHITECTS
Justin Mallia

LOCATION
Melbourne, Australia

CATEGORY
Apartments

AREA
360.0 m²

YEAR
2010

PHOTOGRAPHS
Emma Cross, Paul Cadenhead, Justin Mallia

MANUFACTURERS
Lysaght

BUILDING SURVEYOR
Bsgm Pty Ltd

LAND SURVEYOR
Barge And Miller Surveys

BUILDER
Ducon Pty Ltd

MECHANICAL & ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT
Thomas Consulting Group Pty Ltd

HYDRAULIC CONSULTANT
David Fairbairn Consulting Engineer

Text description provided by architect.

Yan Lane is a small new street located in an eclectic area of the inner city of Melbourne, Australia.

Yan Lane
© Emma Cross
Yan Lane
© Emma Cross

Undertaken on a small budget, this scheme was conceived as an opportunity to use architectural understanding to drive a development project to meaningfully infill an otherwise ignored space and to achieve financial return.

The project involved the subdivision of a narrow sliver of land with no street frontage and hidden between the rear face of shops to the south and the backyard fences and sheds of houses to the north.

Yan Lane is primarily the creation of a new building incorporating two houses but reaches beyond the scope of the small site to include the extension of services infrastructure from the main road and the recreation of a right of way to form a new street.

Yan Lane
© Paul Cadenhead
Yan Lane
© Paul Cadenhead
Yan Lane
© Paul Cadenhead

The project creates an activated, human place from what was previously disused and neglected.

In response to diverse and complex surroundings the two houses are simply presented as a single building.

Yan Lane
© Paul Cadenhead
Yan Lane
© Paul Cadenhead

In order to be accessible and occupiable, the form of the building contorts itself in response to the dimensionally tight parameters of the site through a stepped sectional profile.

Each face of the building is assembled with different materials and performs differently to interact between its immediate external context and the internal spaces it encloses.

Yan Lane
© Paul Cadenhead
Yan Lane
© Paul Cadenhead

A repetitive structural timber frame is exposed as a consistent organising principle throughout this assemblage. It conceptually stitches the facades together creating a cohesive whole.

Towards the noise and clutter at the back of the adjoining shops, the south elevation presents itself in a simple unified manner through the repetition of the expressed timber columns set on a solid zincalume backing.

Yan Lane
© Paul Cadenhead
Yan Lane
© Emma Cross

The building can open up to engage with and enliven the laneway or it can close down to a seamless, simple façade.

Towards the light, tree canopies and residential character to the north, the envelope is set back from the structural frame enabling it to be openable with wide sliding doors and becoming a deep occupiable space through a layering of extensive customised screens, terraces and planting.

The facades are flexible allowing permeability to be mediated depending on the day, to suit the weather or the way the spaces are occupied.

Yan Lane
© Emma Cross

The building is energy efficient, carefully detailed and tactile. It is a surprising encounter of light and tranquillity in an otherwise gritty urban setting.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

The structural system of this building includes a repetitive rhythm of exposed portal frames formed with naturally weather resistant Australian Cypress “Durabeam” Glulam beams braced with exposed 15mm thick Blackbutt “Armourpanel” plywood flooring. The repetitive frames give the building its unity and identity and are encountered throughout as a strong organising principle.

They enable flexibility freeing the infilling envelope from structural constraints to open up, enclose or filter to meet the difficult constraints of the context. The simple but innovative use of exposed timber structure efficiently addresses multiple design objectives delivering a creative, cost efficient solution in a dense inner city context.


Yan Lane
Ground Floor
Yan Lane
Mid Floor
Yan Lane
Top Floor


Yan Lane
Section
Yan Lane
Elevation
Yan Lane
Location

Justin Mallia Architecture
T +61 3 90159772
Justin Mallia Architecture
PO Box 156, Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia