Marsh Cashman Koolloos Architects

Notions of journey, spatial experience, ambiguous space and transition are always prominent in MCK projects, but it isn’t often that the RAIA judges come across a home where the central courtyard doubles as a time portal. The central garden of the Chatswood House project, sandwiched between new and old volumes, is, like the Wood between the Worlds in CS Lewis’ Narnia tales, a grassy transitioning ground between two distinct times and places; allowing visitors to pass freely and fluently between the heritage elements of the existing streetfront home, and the contemporary architectural adventurousness of the rear volume.

Because of its location in a Heritage Conservation area, the front aspect of this California Bungalow needed to remain sensitive to the spatial context and as true to its existing appearance as possible. The architects’ choice of face brickwork maintains a sensitive and unobtrusive relationship with the neighbouring architectural vernacular, so that on approach, the Chatswood House seems like any other well-kempt but unassuming brick home. Likewise, the folding roof, though formed from aluminium sheeting, perfectly complements the sloping tiled roofs adjacent. In the words of the RAIA judges, “one is ill-prepared for the cool minimalist aesthetic of the rear addition”.

From the front, little is revealed of the innovative architecture that has taken shape at the rear of the site, in the form of a new multi-purpose garage pavilion; an oblong box-like volume partitioned for a rumpus room-come-office, storage, and, of course, cars.

The topography of the site slopes upwards from front entry to rear lane, rising steeply from the back of the existing house to the yard and new addition. In response to this, visitors move through the modulated hallway of the original building and mount a short stair at the first junction of old and new. The design steps up again at the final boundary between original building and completely new addition, at the far edge of the central yard. And while it does serve as an intentional moment of transition, this interstitial lawn (and the full-height sliding glass doors that lead onto it) also creates a strong connection between the garage pavilion and the front kitchen and living spaces. When the cars are removed from the garage, the open grassed “passageway” allows for maximum unbroken indoor/outdoor entertaining space, giving both the impression and the reality of a much larger area. It also enables close parental supervision of the inevitably boisterous child’s play in the rumpus room: looking from the main living area towards the rear volume, the space between the two structures seems almost to disappear and suddenly one is left with the impression of having looked into the next room, rather than into another building.

The Chatswood House earned its place in the collective heart of the RAIA judging panel not only as an alteration/addition, but also as a project subject to – and thriving on – multiple constraints. In the eyes of the RAIA, this latter circumstance forces the creative process to operate within imposed aesthetic and financial boundaries, often resulting in “calm and delicate buildings, deceptively simple but underpinned by intelligence, understanding, and the careful control of the delicate craft of building beautifully”.

As well as the heritage element, MCK also had solar access and budget factors to contend with. In a true articulation of the “deceptively simple” but “delicately crafted” trait, the Chatswood House addresses the issue of solar access with that subtle, folded aluminium roof, which, while outwardly blending in with the endemic sloped roofing style of its neighbours, also opens to the north to allow ventilation and sunlight into the central living areas, ably assisted by glazed operable clerestory louvres. Sustainability and affordability were achieved by the use of passive solar principles, water harvesting and reuse, careful selection of building materials, and the reuse of salvaged building materials. +

1 The new rear volume is partitioned into a rumpus room/office (left) and carport (right) which becomes an extra space for living, play or entertaining when the car is removed. 2 Looking towards the rear of the site, the old and new elements of the home appear as one extended room, though physically separated by the outdoor interstitial lawn. 3 By opening the full-height glazed sliding doors, the living area and lawn become one single, open area for play and entertainment. 4 By opening the full-height sliding doors, the barrier between indoor and outdoor is obliterated, greatly expanding available living space in both appearance and reality. 5 Looking towards the front of the home, with its original modulated hallway and stained-glass door is tantamount to looking back in time.

PHOTOGRAPHY by Shannon McGrath