In Melbourne, an Unremarkable Worker’s Cottage Hides a Heavenly Backyard Home

Foomann Architects places a surprisingly spacious and airy two-level residence at the rear of a narrow suburban lot.

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Project Details:

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Architect: Foomann Architects / @foomann_architects

Builder: Ferne Built / @fernebuilt

Structural Engineer: SY Structures

Interior Designer: Foomann with Bicker Design / @bicker_design

Reconciliation Action Plan: Wurundjeri

Photographer: Eve Wilson / @evegwilson

From the Architects: "Large, simple design gestures create a diversity of spatial experiences within this small-footprint home. At 110 square meters, Canning Street showcases the beauty and benefits of compact living. It’s simple, lean, and tidy, with calm, relaxing, and light-filled spaces for family life and entertaining. Northern light filters in through a tall glass facade that opens to the courtyard, while high-level reeded glass and an enclosed garden bring in natural light on the eastern side. The children’s bedrooms are downstairs, and the parents upstairs, and the kitchen, dining area, and lounge are in a long and narrow volume.ddddd

"A large, simple design gesture—a curved ceiling—creates different spatial experiences as it sweeps down from the lounge to the dining area and pitches upward over the kitchen. Timber columns along the eastern wall frame joinery and functions—study, laundry, pantry, courtyard, record player, television and fireplace—which provide clarity to the plan, rhythm to the building and a clear framework for the family to organize their lives and belongings.

"Canning Street showcases how a small home can be beautiful and beneficial to its residents, with a clear and practical design providing visual unity, maximum functionality, and different spatial experiences that unfold throughout."