Merri Creek

Merri Creek
© Tom Ross

Merri Creek

Alexandra Buchanan Architecture

LEAD ARCHITECT
Alexandra Buchanan

DESIGN TEAM
Meyer Consulting Engineers

CONSTRUCTION TEAM
Finnes

PHOTOGRAPHS
Tom Ross

AREA
400 M²

YEAR
2022

LOCATION
Fitzroy North, Australia

CATEGORY
Houses

The Merri Creek House is a renovation and extension project to an existing heritage weatherboard cottage in the suburb of North Fitzroy.

Merri Creek
© Tom Ross
Merri Creek
© Tom Ross
Merri Creek
© Tom Ross

The project re-imagines the typical house with backyard typology and is designed around a series of landscaped courtyard gardens.

Conceptually, the ‘backyard’ has been dissolved and dispersed throughout the plan, creating an arrangement of gardens that each offer and enable a variety of uses and functions throughout the day.

The overarching idea was for each internal space to maintain a ‘green vista’ and allow a visual connection to the outdoors from every room.

Merri Creek
© Tom Ross
Merri Creek
© Tom Ross
Merri Creek
© Tom Ross

The courtyard gardens overlap and intersect with the internal spaces, blurring the boundaries between inside and out and bringing light and life into each of the rooms.

The heritage building has been fully restored to its original condition, removing the previous layers of lean-to extensions, re-cladding, and reinstating the period details and features.

Merri Creek
© Tom Ross
Merri Creek
© Tom Ross

The central axis of the original hallway is maintained and extended through the house into the new addition, creating a continuity between the old and new.

As one moves through the house, the subtle level changes help define each of the spaces, whilst a glazed walkway simultaneously unites and delineates the old house from the new addition.

Positioning the service spaces along the western boundary allowed us to free up the eastern edges for the living areas, capturing morning light and blocking out the harsh western sun.

Merri Creek
© Tom Ross
Merri Creek
© Tom Ross
Merri Creek
© Tom Ross

The main living areas remain on the ground floor, with the kitchen consciously positioned at the heart of the house.

The upper level is reserved as a private kids' retreat. Voids penetrate through the plan, inviting interaction between the two levels whilst maintaining necessary privacy for the kids upstairs.

Merri Creek
© Tom Ross
Merri Creek
© Tom Ross

A restrained, low-maintenance material palette of brick, concrete, and charcoal timber was used to contrast the existing weatherboard cottage.