Project: Point Lonsdale House
Architects: Solomon Troup Architects
Location: Point Lonsdale, Australia
Year: 2023
Photographs by: Timothy Kaye
Point Lonsdale House, designed by Solomon Troup Architects in Victoria, Australia, is a transformation of a 1980s brown brick project home into a retirement haven for the clients. The compact lean-to addition complements the existing dwelling and offers an improved master bedroom suite with garden views. Internal spaces were reconfigured to accommodate extended family visits. The project prioritized sustainability, reducing demolition waste by repurposing elements of the existing structure. The new addition features a spotted gum rain screen for privacy and shading, with an external Venetian blind to control sunlight.
Located in Point Lonsdale, Victoria nestled amongst a tapestry of moonah and tea trees is Point Lonsdale House. This modest project sought to transform an existing 1980’s brown brick project home from a well-lived in family home which previously accommodated a family of five, into a house for the clients to retire in now that their children have left home and have families of their own.
By definition, the new addition – which measures only 40m2 in the area – is a quintessential lean-to addition, sleeving under the existing fascia and gutter of the existing house. The addition provides a significantly improved master bedroom suite, which was designed to take in the views of their adjacent well-established garden. The project also involved an extensive reconfiguration of the house’s internal living, kitchen, and dining spaces. An existing, untouched bedroom wing allows their extended family to visit on occasion, whilst also being able to be closed off completely when no one is visiting.
The form of the addition was inspired by the form of the existing dwelling and its gable roofs, and also the unusual shape of the block. Being a block at the end of a court, it is not a standard square or rectangular shape, which allowed for a building footprint that was both unusual and engaging. The original street-facing facade was repaired, with only a glimpse of the new addition offered from the street.
The waste created by the construction industry contributes to an estimated third of the world’s overall waste. In this project, strategies were used that drastically reduced the amount of waste created through demolition. An existing ensuite was repurposed as a new guest powder room. An existing window opening was used as the opening to the master bedroom addition. Rather than starting with a ‘clean slate’, various elements of the existing building fabric were retained and repurposed in order to reduce the waste created by the new works.
The new addition is clad in a spotted gum rain screen, which serves two purposes. Firstly, it allowed for an operable screen to the ensuite which allows the clients to control the level of privacy from an adjacent infrequently used public park. The rain screen also provides shading to the building envelope which is particularly useful on hot summer afternoons given the new master bedroom suite faces directly west. An external Venetian blind is also used to keep the master bedroom space cool. It can be fully opened in the morning to take in views of the garden or closed to prevent the hot western sun from entering the space.
Point Lonsdale House is a testament to how even small changes can have a significant positive impact on the functionality and liveability of a home.
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