Ready for Retirement, a Couple Create an Understated En Suite in Their Own Backyard

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Project Details:

Location: Point Lonsdale, Victoria, Australia

Architect: Solomon Troup Architects / @solomontroup

Footprint: 1,500 square feet

Builder: David Webb Building Solutions

Structural Engineer: Simon Anderson Consultants

Landscape Design: TNLA

Photographer: Timothy Kaye / @timothykaye

From the Architect: "Point Lonsdale House sought to transform an existing 1980s brown brick residence from a well-lived-in family home for five into a place for the parents to retire.

"The new addition—which measures only 430 square feet in area – is a quintessential lean-to, sleeving under the fascia and gutter of the existing house. The addition provides a significantly improved primary bedroom suite, which was designed to take in the views of the couple’s adjacent well-established garden. The project also involved an extensive reconfiguration to the houses internal living, kitchen, and dining spaces. An existing, untouched bedroom wing allows their extended family to visit on occasions, 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.

"To minimize waste for the renovation, an existing en suite was repurposed as a new guest powder room. An existing window opening was used as the opening to the primary bedroom addition. Rather than starting with a ‘clean slate’, various elements of the existing building fabric were retained and repurposed."

"The new addition is clad in a spotted gum rain screen, which serves two purposes. Firstly, it allowed for an operable screen to the en suite, 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 primary bedroom suite faces directly west. An external venetian blind is also used to keep the primary 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."