Suite Shed

Suite Shed is a residential shed conversion into a wheelchair-accessible guest suite in Launceston, Tasmania, specifically designed for a vision-impaired relative whose eyesight was limited to seeing bright light and contrasting colors, and navigating by feel and memory. We observed how he navigated space in other environments such as hotels. On first entering he felt his way around the walls to develop a mind map for important routes such as bed to bathroom.

Two sleep-outs were converted into one bedroom and a larger wheelchair accessible bathroom. The adjacent workshop became a living space with an accessible kitchenette and a corner Queen-sized daybed you can close off for sleeping. The breezeway between the house and sheds was converted into a wintergarden with a glasshouse roof.

Sleep-outs and breezeways were traditional climate control methods in an era of no air conditioning. When the house overheated, you retreated to a backyard sleeping space, built with a thin, breathable structure. Today, we see these tent-like lean-to spaces at the rear of houses as cold and unfit for purpose. They are often considered too difficult to adapt and too small to suit our bloated lifestyles, demolished for a large new addition.

Instead, we explored retaining and adaptively reusing these traditional shed typologies. We can learn from old ways of living to minimize our environmental footprint; living small, retaining and reusing as much as possible. The old siding, balloon framing and sleep-out doors have been retained as textural richness, insulated and Formflow clad for a contemporary take on the corrugated iron shed.

Adding new rigid, straight materials to an old slightly wonky structure was a challenge. The walls were battened, insulated and wrapped in Formflow (corrugated metal sheeting bent into 90º corners), with Bondor Insulroof insulated roofing panels added over the existing roof. Spanning the full width, the roofing panels do not add weight to the existing spindly roof framing and allowed us to feature the rusted patina of the existing roof.

Adapting the sheds into a guest suite hinged on this insulated skin and the sun aspect to make it comfortable with minimal energy use and to visually connect to the garden. Planned around existing openings cut down to floor level, we then introduced horizontal windows outside the stud-work so there was no structural change and the integrity of the existing structure was maintained. At wheelchair, dog and toddler eye levels to suit a variety of users, you can glimpse the framing through the glass. The north corner is now a daybed with a Tasmanian Oak cavity sliding door and a recessed book and board game shelf carved out of the adjacent store.

We chose to engage the builder Luke Dineen, Minor Marvels Pty. Ltd., for his adaptability, eye for detail and innovative approach with both recycled and new materials. As well as being a builder, he is a furniture maker and workshop manager in the learning by making architectural program at University of Tasmania. Luke constructed all the recycled Tasmanian Oak cabinetry, windows and glazed door frames in his workshop.

There is extensive reuse of existing materials, from cladding (note the existing twice-recycled board reminiscent of Rosalie Gascoigne’s art above the recycled timber kitchen bench) to concrete pavers to form the accessible path to the street. External additions are limited to a deck for accessible outdoor living, a water tank and the access path.

Defects in the existing material were treated as detail; holes in the existing siding patched with recycled copper sheet, the ply cut to match the siding profile at junctions between old and new.

For low vision accessibility, we designed way-finding handrails to skirt the rooms incorporating sensor-activated LED strip lighting.
Important locations within the space are highlighted with ‘hi-vis’ color tiles. Textural contrasts between the rough old studs and weatherboards, the smooth new tiles and timber veneer ply walls aid location memory. Talking kitchen appliances, microwave and induction cooktop, from Vision Australia speak temperatures and times.