MUIR Architecture Pty Ltd

Eastham Street House

Eastham Street House
© Peter Bennetts

Eastham Street House

MUIR

ARCHITECTS
Muir

ENGINEER
Co-struct Engineering

BUILDING SURVEYOR
Formanova

LANDSCAPE DESIGNER
Openwork, Fytogreen

BUILDER
Project Edge

STEEL FABRICATOR
Bsgm 

PHOTOGRAPHS
Peter Bennetts

AREA
120 m²

YEAR
2022 

LOCATION
Australia

CATEGORY
Houses

This is a house to appreciate the benefits of living with natural light, garden space and vista. A home for a retiring couple looking to consolidate. An addition that intertwines interior spaces with exterior and initiates a street presence through structure and vegetation. The house sits firmly on the corner site. Double-fronted, single-story Victorian.

Eastham Street House
© Peter Bennetts
Eastham Street House
© Peter Bennetts

Its façade is defined by the linear veranda denoting the entrance. The side façade, flat and pragmatic, faces onto the one-way street. The client provided a photo taken in 1915, it portrays the family who originally lived in the home, gathered on the footpath, welcoming home ex-servicemen. A publicness. A corner site. Street as an extension of dwelling.

Dwelling an extension of the street Internally the original three-bedroom house presented as a disconnected kitchen and dining area. The bathroom and laundry entered directly into the living room. It’s a house with a past life. A house that remains within its existing footprint. Contained by the outline of past markings.

Eastham Street House
© Peter Bennetts
Eastham Street House
© Peter Bennetts

These past markings provide parameters for reconsideration. Eastham Street seeks to address how we build additions within small inner suburban sites providing garden that benefits not only the resident but also the public realm of the street.

The roof deck sits over the new garage, providing a private space with a public interface. The obligatory heritage setbacks define the constraints of the intervention. An addition that provides street presence, giving back rather than taking. A form that bookends the house but also folds with the house.

Eastham Street House
© Peter Bennetts
Eastham Street House
© Peter Bennetts

Accessed from the existing courtyard, the roof deck allows for a new garden to exist. The stainless-steel structure and mesh sculpt a collection of planter boxes reminiscent of the 17th Century craft associated with the making of the trellis.

These structures form the landscape intervention, providing greenery, addressing concerns of privacy, and terminating the edge of the house while folding into the existing heritage form.

Eastham Street House
© Peter Bennetts
Eastham Street House
© Peter Bennetts

The interior is redefined through joinery portals, reflected light from skylights above, and folded ceilings. We collaborated with Mark Postil, Co-Struct, to design a robust but delicate stainless-steel structure.

This was engineered to take loads of the taught stainless-steel mesh, whilst also providing an intermediate form for the vines to grow through and over. We worked closely with Project Edge, BSGM, Tensile, Formanova, Openwork, Fytogreen, and Touchwood Cabinetry.

Eastham Street House
© Peter Bennetts
Eastham Street House
© Peter Bennetts
Eastham Street House
© Peter Bennetts

Demolishing the existing garage provided the project with a new carport structure, a roof deck, and an expanded garden. This consciousness to remain within the existing footprint, whilst carving out a new program also benefited the construction costs and the sustainability intent of the project.

Working with existing materials and those that provide longevity, was integral to the design. An existing brick wall is celebrated and extended seamlessly up to the roof deck through the use of recycled bricks, existing floorboards were maintained and infilled where needed.

Utilizing the existing concrete slab, with cut-outs for garden beds in the courtyard, enabled the established Japanese Maple to remain and flourish. New materials were selected to minimize deterioration.

Eastham Street House
© Peter Bennetts
Eastham Street House
© Peter Bennetts


Eastham Street House
Plan
Eastham Street House
Plan - Site
Eastham Street House
Section
Eastham Street House
Elevations
Eastham Street House
Digram
Eastham Street House
Diagram

MUIR Architecture Pty Ltd
T +61 3 96140193
MUIR Architecture Pty Ltd
1st floor/25 Elizabeth St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia