Rennie Street Thornbury

Concealed from the street, the transformation of a 1920s Californian Bungalow in Melbourne's inner north is both highly personalised for the needs of its dwellers, and deliberately modest.

An 'alteration and addition', the project takes its cue from the 'lean-to' form common to homes of this era, where service rooms and open verandah spaces were located at the rear under a pitched roof leant against an east west gable roof line.
A 'lean-to' addition now stretches across the rear of the block and introduces an articulated northern elevation. Spaces within are arranged under the pitch according to tasks: low in the kitchen and pantry/storage; high in the sitting and living areas.
A new entry hallway is inserted between two bedrooms while a third bedroom is remodelled to create a laundry and pantry.
Twin openings facing the garden provide places to sit and places to grow herbs and flowers.
The Rennie Street project is deliberately modest, with an addition that is confidential to the street and the neighbourhood, yet a highly personalised alteration arranged with care for its inhabitants.