What are the two most important factors in a home? Natural light and a connection to the outdoors. From the moment you enter this 1950s home, a glimpse of the backyard down the long hall draws you towards the new light-filled addition to the rear. The owners wanted to increase their living space for their growing children and better connect to the existing swimming pool in the large rear yard of their Altona home. OMG Architects created a lightbox-like addition which flows effortlessly into the backyard...
The owners wanted a new addition with two living areas. One open-plan living space with kitchen, dining and lounge and a kids' room which could be easily separated from the main space when desired. The rear addition freed up space in the existing home for the main bedroom suite and an additional bedroom, creating a four bedroom, two bathroom home.
The architect connected old and new by creating a central axis which leads from the front door right through to the backyard. It's like a light at the end of the tunnel effect, encouraging you to walk past the front bedrooms towards the new open-plan living area.
Clad in COLORBOND® steel (Monument®), the addition's dark exterior belies the wash of light inside. A ribbon of clerestory Windows running the whole width of the house bring north light deep into the living areas.
It was important for the owners to feel connected to their large backyard and existing pool area. Sliding glass doors retreat into concealed pockets in the walls of the main living area, helping the home flow outside into a covered outdoor space. The owners find they leave these doors open in summer, letting the home breathe and creating a seamless indoor-outdoor connection.
The kids' area can be separated from the mains living area via a sliding door. It also opens onto this covered outdoor space, separated by a large window seat with bi-fold windows. The window seat can be used from either the inside out the outside, making it flexible and multi-purpose.
The kitchen is the centrepiece of this home, both physically and symbolically. The raised ceiling and clerestory windows over the kitchen demonstrate its importance in the home.
A large, square, window in the lounge frames a view of the backyard, creating a lush, living mural in the home.
What seems like a simple addition is actually carefully designed to connect the old house to the new living areas and create a seamless connection between indoors and outdoors, making use of the valuable outdoor space. The design also cleverly draws in light thanks to those clerestory windows, grabbing north light in what would otherwise be a south-facing addition. It's these carefully considered details which make this addition shine - inside and out.
