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    Material and spatial contrasts define Barwon Heads House by Adam Kane Architects

    Australian studio Adam Kane Architects has renovated a cottage on a quiet coastal street in Barwon Heads and connected it to a barn-like extension by a glazed link.

    Named Barwon Heads House, the project was designed by Melbourne studio Adam Kane Architects as a contemporary dwelling that embodied a “relaxed, coastal lifestyle”.
    Adam Kane Architects extended and renovated a cottage in Barwon HeadsPrior to Adam Kane Architects’ renovation and extension, the neglected weatherboarded cottage was known locally as “the dump”.
    Its transformation led it to be shortlisted house interior of the year in the Dezeen Awards 2022 and win the public vote for the same category.
    Barwon Heads House is clad in woodAdopting a minimal palette of monochrome contrasts, the studio painted the existing cottage’s exterior entirely black, pairing it with a lighter extension clad in silvery-grey weathered wooden planks.

    Beneath steeply pitched black metal roofs, this play of contrasts continues to the interiors, creating a spatial journey of “compression and release” that begins in the more compartmentalised cottage containing three bedrooms and a bathroom.
    Contrasting colours and materials feature throughoutMoving through the existing cottage into the small glazed link and a dark corridor, Barwon Heads House’s extension opens up into a large living and dining space, overlooked by the main bedroom on a mezzanine above.
    Full-height windows look out to Barwon Heads House’s garden to the north, while a narrow clerestory-level window opposite draws in light above its kitchen.

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    “Access to the extension is via an enclosed corridor, lined with black mottled joinery panels on walls and ceilings, and is used to conceal doorways into the rumpus, laundry and storage areas,” said Adam Kane Architects.
    “The ‘journey’ through this dark corridor with a lower ceiling creates a sense of compression before a sense of release when walking towards the living room, where the gable opens up into the main space,” it continued.
    The extension has a deliberately simple finishExisting features were retained in the cottage, while the extension has a deliberately simple interior finished with oak panelling and exposed concrete. Slabs of travertine marble are used as countertops, coffee tables and a large dining table.
    “Heritage features are maintained through the use of the original lining board ceilings, as well as period skirting and architraves, which fit perfectly with the renewed tones,” said the studio.
    “The timber lining helps blur the threshold between inside and out, delineating zones, making spaces feel more generous and contributing to the relaxed feel of the home.”
    It is designed as a spatial journey of “compression and release”Adam Kane Architects was founded in 2015, and its previous projects include a bridal boutique in Melbourne with minimal finishes of concrete and marble.
    Alongside Barwon Heads House, other projects shortlisted in the house interior category of Dezeen Awards 2022 include a home in Melbourne with a palette of “organic” materials by Brave New Eco and the renovation of a 120-year-old townhouse in Kyoto by Td-Atelier and Endo Shojiro Design.
    The photography is by Timothy Kaye.

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    Studio Terpeluk renovates Albert Lanier-designed Noe Valley home

    San Francisco-based Studio Terpeluk has renovated and expanded Redwood House in Noe Valley with redwood interiors and terraces.

    The three-storey Redwood House was originally designed by American architect Albert Lanier – husband to sculptor Ruth Asawa – in a hilly  San Francisco neighbourhood characterised by Victorian and Edwardian houses.
    Studio Terpeluk renovated an interior in Noe ValleyStudio Terpeluk was selected to expand the 1976 house from 2,260 square feet (210 square metres) to 3,218 square feet (299 square metres) with a new guest room suite, home office, wet bar and media room.
    The renovation “surgically modified the house in an architecturally non-aggressive manner,” the studio said.
    Western red cedar was used for the walls and ceilingWrapped with irregular western red cedar planks, the narrow house cascades down the hillside with exterior courtyards that mitigate the grade change.

    One enters the house through an intimate courtyard off the street into an open-plan upper level with a sloping ceiling and dark-knotted Douglas fir flooring made from local reclaimed pier pilings.
    Many of the walls and ceilings were updated with vintage rough-sawn redwood veneered plywood maintained from the original build.
    “Redwood surfaces and structural elements complete the warm interior landscape: from the sloping roof beams to partition walls and built-in shelves,” the studio said.
    The renovation expanded the homeTo the left of the entrance is the kitchen with custom-gloss cabinets and a Carrara marble backsplash. It opens to a dining room that features a Saarinen table and Hans Wegner wishbone chairs.
    To the right is the library where sunlight from the large window brightens the dark panelling and sculptural furniture.
    Bright panelling contrasts the rich wood tonesThe living room is oriented around a pink sculpture by American artist Wanxin Zhang.
    Padded seating wraps the corner under a large window looking out to the San Francisco skyline.
    The living room has wrap-around seating and views of San FranciscoThe house is centred around a staircase illuminated by a skylight.
    “The sculptural blackened steel stair with vintage rough-sawn redwood plywood walls anchors the house, weaving together the three floors and their diverse spatial character,” the studio continued.
    The home is oriented around a central staircaseThe middle level features guest suites with direct access to the entry courtyard.
    The primary suite is softened by light pink terrazzo tile and a micro mosaic of Indian red recycled plastic tiles.
    The home’s colour complements the art collection of the owners”Color was a recurring theme in the exquisite and eclectic art collection of the owners,” studio founder Brett Terpeluk said.
    “This went perfectly hand in hand with my interest in mid-century Italian design and its bold use of color.”
    A series of terraces connect the home with the sloping site”We collaborated with our friend and designer Beatrice Santiccioli to enrich the project with a dedicated and bespoke color language,” he continued.
    At the lowest level, a media room, home office and kitchenette open to an abundantly landscaped garden.

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    The outdoor areas were designed by Terpeluk’s wife and longtime consultant, Italian landscape designer Monica Viarengo.
    The terraces shift from curated gardens to wild vegetation as one moves through the property, while the plantings reference California coastal landscapes with yellow roses, espaliered fruit trees and a variety of thymes.
    A guest suite connects to the central courtyardStudio Terpeluk was founded in 2008 by Brett Terpeluk, after he finished a tenure working with Italian architect Renzo Piano.
    Other Noe Valley renovations include the Gable House by Edmonds + Lee, a renovated Victorian townhouse by Fougeron Architecture and an industrial home for a tech entrepreneur by Levy Art and Architecture and Síol Studios.
    Photography is by Joe Fletcher.
    Project credits
    Project team: Brett Terpeluk, Huy NguyenLandscape design: Monica ViarengoColor consultant: Beatrice SanticcioliContractor: Saturn ConstructionStructural engineering: Strandberg EngineeringFurniture: Santiccioli ArredamentiOrama sliding window systems: CooritaliaWindows: BonelliWood reclaimed wood flooring: ArboricaMetal fabrication: Upper Story DesignDrapery/upholstery: Malatesta & CoArt: Catharine Clark Gallery

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    BAAO extends Carroll Gardens Townhouse around a magnolia tree

    A family home in Brooklyn has been extended and renovated by local studio Barker Associates Architecture Office, to expand the kitchen and create larger rooms for the daughters.

    The Carroll Gardens Townhouse, located a block away from the Gowanus Canal, was the family of four’s home for a decade before they decided they needed more space.
    BAAO extended the home in Brooklyn to create more living space on all three floorsWorking around a magnolia tree in the back yard, Barker Associates Architecture Office (BAAO) designed an extension to all three storeys that provides additional living areas both inside and out.
    At parlour level, the floor plan was opened up and storage was created through built-ins.
    A dining roon occupies the extension at parlour levelIn the lounge area, colourful decor includes a custom Bower Studios mirror that hangs above the existing marble wood-burning fireplace.

    “The finishes feature lots of vibrant colour, pattern, texture, and cozy nooks,” said the architecture studio.
    The kitchen features white lacquer and fir cabinetryThe kitchen has white lacquer and fir cabinetry to complement the pine floors, which run through the majority of the home.
    The dining table is placed in the extension, where it enjoys views of the back yard through a large window that also accommodates a built-in bench.
    At garden level, a grey felt curtain can be drawn to partition the space for guestsLinking the multiple levels, the staircase was restored and modified to fit widened openings that make the most of the skylight above the hallway on the upper floor.
    Reorganised bedrooms upstairs are now more spacious, with bright colours and patterned wallpaper used to personalise each room.
    A seating area looks onto the back yardThe parents’ suite is at the front of the building, while the daughters’ twin rooms occupy the extended volume at the back.
    At garden level, a small kitchen for entertaining joins a sunken blue-tiled living space, a home office and a pegboard wall that allows the family to organise their outdoor gear.
    The architects created a giant pegboard wall for the family to store their outdoor gearA grey felt curtain can be drawn across to separate an area for guests.
    Outdoors, a new steel staircase with wooden treads leads down from the parlor-level deck to the garden.

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    A bluestone terrace curves around the magnolia tree and is sheltered by the deck above.
    Pavers lead past planting to another seating nook, built into the cedar fencing at the back of the property.
    The extension is designed around a magnolia tree”An arborist was consulted to determine the sizing and placement of the extension, deck, and garden terrace, and a plant consultant was employed to help choose appropriate native species for the garden,” the team said.
    BAAO was founded by Alexandra Barker in 2006, and the Brooklyn studio has worked extensively in the New York borough and beyond.
    A bluestone terrace is sheltered by a deck aboveLast year, the team’s completed projects included two daycare centres: one featuring curved apertures and blue tones, and another with house-shaped openings and cheerful hues.
    The photography is by Francis Dzikowski/OTTO.
    Project credits:
    Flooring: Hudson FlooringLighting: Allied Maker, Cedar and Moss, Dutton Brown, Hand and Eye Studio, Hollis and Morris, ApparatusWallpaper: Farrow and Ball, Hygge and West, SpoonflowerTile: Cle, Complete TilePlumbing fixtures and fittings: Vola, Watermark, California Faucets, KastRugs: Aelfie, Studio Proba

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    Studio McW carves up “post-lockdown” London home extension with darkened oak joinery

    Umber-coloured oak joinery divides the interior of this end-of-terrace home in London’s Willesden Green, which has been extended and refurbished by local architecture firm Studio McW.

    The two-storey Aperture House now features an additional pitched-roofed volume at its rear, that can be accessed via the main home or a second, less formal entrance set at the side of the property alongside a small planted courtyard.
    A darkened oak cabinet sits under Aperture House’s pitched roofThe residence’s owners, a journalist and a psychiatrist, worked from home throughout the coronavirus lockdowns of 2020 and grew to dislike using their kitchen, which was visually cut off from the rest of the house and the outdoors.
    They tasked Clerkenwell-based Studio McW with establishing a more versatile “post-lockdown” extension that can be used for cooking, dining, working and entertaining.
    The cabinet transitions into low-lying cupboards in the kitchenStudio McW’s approach sought to find a middle ground between a more sequestered layout and a vast, open-plan space, which can often feel impersonal according to the firm’s director Greg Walton.

    “I think lockdown has certainly compounded the failures of modern open-plan living,” he told Dezeen.
    “Open-plan layouts offer little privacy and occupants can feel a bit lost in the room. Residential architecture needs to work harder to meet new demands.”
    Walls throughout the extension are finished in plasterIn the case of Aperture House, this is achieved using blocks of dark-stained oak joinery. The largest is a cabinet, which is nestled beneath the eaves of the roof and acts as a divider between the external entryway and a small dining room.
    At its centre is a rectangular opening that offers a place to perch and remove shoes on one side, while in the dining area it acts as a reading nook and an additional seat when hosting larger gatherings.
    “By using joinery to break up the spatial layout you have the opportunity to create, in the same room, separate spaces to eat, cook, welcome visitors and relax whilst still maintaining a form of connection,” Walton said.
    In front of the kitchen there is space for a lounge areaThe cabinet transitions into a low-lying oak cupboard in the kitchen, which allows residents to rustle up meals while keeping the garden, guests and each other in sight.
    To the side of the kitchen is a series of taller oak cabinets, interrupted by another nook where small appliances like the kettle and toaster can be tucked away to keep the counters free of clutter.
    Just in front of the kitchen, Studio McW made space for a lounge area where the owners can retreat to work or relax during the day.
    Another opening in the joinery provides room for small appliancesRather than installing glass doors all the way along the home’s rear facade, Studio McW opted to front the extension with a pivoting glazed panel.
    “I think the ubiquitous sliding or bifold doors across the rear of a London terrace are becoming an unromantic ideal,” Walton explained. “They don’t offer places for respite and repose, there is no shadow or play of light.”
    “In this house, openings in the new extension are set back within deep, angled brick thresholds, which are designed to focus views and draw in light at specific times of the day.”
    The extension is fronted by a pivoting glass doorAnother example of this is the off-centre skylight that punctuates the extension’s roof and casts shafts of light into the plaster-washed interior.
    “Just like in photography, the apertures in a property affect focus and exposure,” Walton said.
    “Often, the act of bringing light into a home is interpreted as putting in as many windows as possible. But in doing so you create all the characteristics of an overexposed photograph.”
    The door is set within an angled brick recessA growing number of homes are starting to reflect the effects that the coronavirus pandemic has had on people’s lifestyles.
    Earlier this year, the co-founders of Studiotwentysix added a plywood-lined loft extension to their own family home in Brighton to make room for more work and rest areas. With a similar aim, Best Practice Architecture recently converted the shed of a Seattle property into a home office and fitness room.
    The photography is by Lorenzo Zandri. 

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    Daytrip transforms east London terrace house into understated apartments

    Design studio Daytrip has taken a less-is-more approach to the renovation and extension of this Victorian terrace house in London’s Clapton, which is now home to three separate apartments.

    The 250-square-metre Reighton Road development was designed as a “minimalist sanctuary” that could act as a blank canvas for residents’ belongings.
    A two-bedroom flat takes over Reighton Road’s ground floor and two basement levels (top and above)”A good home should be flexible and speak of its owners,” explained Hackney-based Daytrip. “The ability to cultivate and populate it over time with art, objects and personal items makes the home unique.”
    The largest of the flats has two bedrooms and takes over the building’s ground floor as well as two new subterranean levels, which are illuminated by a number of lightwells.
    Another apartment is self-contained on the building’s first floor and a third occupies the second floor and a new loft extension.

    Walls in the apartment’s kitchen are finished with tadelakt plasterIn the bottom apartment, the first basement floor accommodates a pair of spacious bedrooms, both of which were finished with poured concrete floors.
    Below that, the second subterranean level is meant to serve as a versatile studio-like space, where the residents can do home workouts or indulge in artsy hobbies.
    The kitchen’s rear wall is finished with grey bricksThe ground floor houses the apartment’s main living spaces including a new kitchen suite with handleless alabaster-white cabinetry.
    Save for a grey brick wall at the rear of the room, surfaces were washed with creamy tadelakt – a traditional lime-based plaster from Morocco.
    “It’s a purposely minimal and subdued kitchen, reserving the chaos to the cooking,” the studio said.
    The living room features white-oiled oak flooring and restored cornicingAt the front of the kitchen are wide glass doors that can be slid back to access the garden.
    London-based landscape design studio Tyler Goldfinch was brought in to give the paved outdoor space a wild, textured look using tiered planters overspilling with different types of grasses.
    There is also a silver birch tree surrounded by a circular bed of pebbles.

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    Unlike the rest of the apartment, the living room was finished with white-oiled oak flooring while the ceiling’s original cornicing was restored. These same features also appear throughout the other two apartments on the upper floors.
    To create a sense of cohesion, all three flats were styled by East London galleries Beton Brut and Modern Art Hire, which carefully curated a mix of Italian and Japanese furnishings for the development.
    The other apartments on the upper floors also feature white-oiled oak flooringMany of the pieces were crafted from velvet, boucle or raw timber, bringing a sense of warmth and tactility to the interiors.
    With this aim, all of the bathrooms were also finished with tadelakt walls and limestone floors.
    All furnishings were selected by Beton Brut and Modern Art HireThis is the second residential project in Clapton from Daytrip founders Iwan Halstead and Emily Potter.
    In 2020, the duo overhauled a five-storey townhouse in the east London district by turning its dated 1970s-style rooms into serene white-washed living spaces.
    The photography is by Jake Curtis.

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    Luke Fry squeezes extension behind bungalow in Melbourne

    At the back of a narrow Edwardian bungalow in Melbourne, the studio of Australian architect Luke Fry has added a contemporary extension with greyscale interiors.

    The semi-detached bungalow, called Ripponlea House, is set down a tree-lined street in the titular Melbourne suburb and belongs to a young family.
    The owners initially wanted to turn their home into a two-storey property. But, undeterred by the bungalow’s small footprint, Fry instead opted for establishing better quality living spaces at ground level.
    Luke Fry’s Ripponlea extension features an open living and dining areaThe studio knocked down the entire rear of the house, preserving only a couple of rooms at the front of the plan.
    In its place now stands a lengthy volume that accommodates a dining-cum-living area, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.

    A grey linen sofa and a couple of boucle armchairs lie at the heart of the lounge, accompanied by a wood burner and low-lying bench.
    The kitchen and dining area adjoin a smaller internal courtyardThe space is fronted by expansive three-by-three-metre glass doors that had to be lifted onto the site by crane.
    These can be slid back to grant the owners access to a paved garden with an L-shaped concrete seat in its corner, which is inset with a greenery-filled planter.
    To further amplify the home’s connection with the outdoors, Fry created a couple of smaller internal courtyards including one adjoining the kitchen.
    Durable materials like oak and stone can be seen throughout the interior”We focused on maximising the tight single-fronted site as best we could by carving courtyards into the building to enhance natural light and its connection to the landscape,” Fry explained.
    “The design, both internally and externally, is one that creates a sense of calm.”

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    The kitchen features oak cabinetry and a stone-topped island – materials that the studio says are timeless and durable. Oakwood also lines sections of the floor, while most of the brick walls were simply washed with plaster and sealed with wax.
    A corridor punctuated with a circular skylight leads through to the extension’s moody bedroom, which is decked out exclusively in grey tones.
    Grey tones permeate the bedroomIn the adjacent bathroom, an oak-framed washstand sits across from a deep-set concrete tub.
    “It’s hard for me to look past the concrete rendered bath as my favourite element,” Fry explained. “It was experimental for us and something which we are truly proud of.”
    A concrete tub features in the bathroomLuke Fry founded his eponymous studio in 2014.
    Ripponlea House joins a number of other design-focused homes in Melbourne including the Grange Residence by Conrad Architects, which is clad in acid-etched marble, and Pony by Wowowa, which features a scalloped metal roof.
    The photography is by Timothy Kaye.
    Project credits:
    Architecture: Luke Fry Architecture and Interior DesignBuilder: Cote Constructions

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