Powell Street House

Powell Street House occupies a compact site in the inner Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, in a pocket characterised by a visually diverse streetscape. The existing 1930’s brick duplex in a restrained Art Deco style, comprised a ground floor and first floor apartment, each sharing the same floor plan, and each with its own external access. Our clients, an architecture and design writer and his partner, with an eclectic collection of art works and furniture, had been living in the property for a number of years, and wished to unite and augment the two dwellings to form a cohesive single residence with a private aspect. Whilst not the subject of a formal Heritage grading, it was felt that the house represented a good, if modest example of a substantially intact two storey duplex of its era, with an intact floor plan which had been subject to minimal intervention over the years. From the outset, the aim was to understand the qualities of the existing, and to intervene quietly and sensitively, working with, rather than against the existing fabric, and retaining wherever possible the original layout. The alterations and additions endeavour to capture the spirit of the 1930’s duplex and respond to an understanding of the qualities of these simple, yet noble, dwellings. This approach, we believe, results in a validation of the qualities of the original. The existing house had a quiet interior and muted light, and the design was developed in response to this, with a deliberate quietness, and the creation of long diagonal views through the existing shallow floor plan. The design approach was to treat the new elements as interventions which were clearly distinguishable from the original fabric, yet respectful to it. Minimising structural alterations to the original fabric was also a means of achieving a cost-effective outcome on a limited budget. Dining, kitchen and laundry facilities were located in a new addition to the rear of the site, with a polished concrete floor. The kitchen and dining area enjoy a northern aspect to the property’s rear courtyard, via a steel framed window wall, which describes a serrated profile in plan, and delivers an intriguing quality of light to the newly created space. This ground floor addition forms a double height volume, which incorporates a carefully located high level window, and was conceived as a quiet space, with ambiguous connections between the existing and the new, the outside and the inside. A compact central staircase, in dark stained timber and raw steel, connects the two previously separated levels of the building, and was located within the former bathroom space to each level, to minimise the need for internal alterations. Bathrooms were designed with a selection of materials evocative of the 1930’s architecture of the original house, including basins tiled in-situ, and the use of traditional shower curtains, selected for their modest yet sensuous qualities. The addition, and the new architectural elements generally, read as insertions within the existing fabric, and connect enigmatically with the materiality of the original. Where openings have been formed or modified, such alterations have been executed in a way which leaves clear traces of the original. Views were limited and curated through the new steel windows utilising a combination of clear and opaque glazing, using narrow reeded patterned glass, sympathetic to the original era of the house. Internal colours were selected to connect the spaces and respond to the varying volumes and light conditions throughout the house, including the use of dark colours to blur the connection between old and new.