Project: Blurred House
Architects: BiLD Architecture
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Photographs by: Tanja Milbourne
Blurred House by BiLD Architecture
BiLD Architecture have undertaken a major renovation and extension to an original 1930’s Californian bungalow in Melbourne, Australia.
The project has received the title Blurred House and is the first in a series of typographic studies involving the Australian suburban taxonomy.
The sloping roofs create large planes while the hallway angles define the use of various program spaces, showing the transition from the spacious atrium of a living room to a more private lounge area and bedroom on the second floor.
A split and offset window caps the section of the house, with roof and wall extending past the glazing to create a creatively framed view of the patio and pool. A wireframe contour diagram cutting the residence on its east-west axis reveals two interlocking volumes of space; one is easily read as the more contemporary addition to the original 1930s house, and its presence is highlighted by the space’s white envelope that gently hugs the existing skeleton.
From the architects: “Viewed from the street, the house appears largely unchanged, with a small clerestory window the only hint of reconfiguration. Both internally and externally; moving through the house, new materials, spatial characters and formal language is progressively introduced.
By the time of arrival in the back yard, the house has evolved into a different building; no longer recognizable from its original starting point; an architectural ‘rabbit in a hat’.Reflecting the formal strategy of transition, rooms at the front of the property are left largely unadulterated, remaining more enclosed. On the other hand, living spaces to the rear are progressively more open and interconnected embracing the garden and pool areas.
These varied spaces respond to different ‘modes’ of living, with different volumetric, acoustic, and light qualities. Whilst these spaces are linked to a greater or lesser degree, they are not ‘open plan’ in a conventional sense, rather configured in a more nuanced distribution of distinct spaces and functions.
A hybrid of both old and new, oscillating between the past and present, the building sits comfortably in the street scape as something familiar yet alien. Distinct from both the area’s new housing and the original suburban fabric the ‘Blurred House’ is neither little red riding hood or the big bad wolf, somewhere in between.”
