Located in South Melbourne, Cecil St House is a renovation and extension project in 2018 called Cecil St House. The project brief for this single-fronted, double-storey Victorian terrace house is to create a modern extension with light-filled open spaces.

Design

This single-fronted, double-storey Victorian terrace house had a series of dark, dilapidated rooms in a linear configuration. The sloped site of this house also gives different challenges such as limited access and 100-year-old two-storey brick walls on both long boundaries.

The brief is not only creating a modern extension with light-filled open spaces but also reconstructing the period house at the front.

Spaces

Locating the wet areas like laundries and bathrooms in the center of the house is the first step of the renovation. There is also access to the internal courtyards, allowing natural light into the bedrooms and the kitchen via light shafts and skylights.

The main living space opens up to the rear to allow light and ventilation through this house.

Details

A laser-cut metal screening device is designed at the rear of the house in reference to the period iron lacework at the front. This can make the house has its own identity and personality that can be seen from the rear courtyard.

Even with a lace-like appearance, this screening device can provide varying levels of transparency, privacy to the upstairs bedrooms, and interesting shadows during the day.

Three levels up are connected by open stairs to the large roof deck that provides additional open space and a thermal chimney effect to minimize the mechanical cooling need. You can try here by clicking on the link https://www.capitaldeckandstair.com/ if you want a fiber glass stair or a waterproof deck.

Cecil St House Gallery

Photographer: Tatjana Plitt