New Street House Brighton, Melbourne Residence, Australian Property Renovation, Contemporary Extension, Architecture Photos

New Street House in Brighton, Melbourne

15 Aug 2023

Design: Ben & Ben Architects

Location: Brighton, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Photos by Dylan James

New Street House, Vic

New Street is a contemporary alteration and addition to the existing single-storey Edwardian residence in Brighton, proposes a new Living, Kitchen, Bathroom, additional two Bedrooms, and Ensuite amongst the extensive refurbishment works. The form sensitively responds to the low set heritage streetscape while providing enhanced contemporary amenity to its occupants.

What was the brief?

Our project on New Street ultimately engages with the client’s requirements to enhance their existing family home through alteration and addition to their existing period residence; with the specific intention to incorporate modern living and connection to the outdoors.

The client had a strong focus of preservation of the existing Federation features, so retention and restoration of the original roofline and corresponding spaces below was critical. The property benefits from an additional street frontage at the rear, so consideration needed to be given to street presentation of the new volume. Given the property’s relatively modest lot size, introducing a second storey emerged as the most viable solution to fulfil the desired plan program while safeguarding the existing North- East facing outdoor space. Blending their passion for heritage buildings with contemporary living, the spaces should be light and bright with respect to the intact streetscape, the project adds a new kitchen, additional living room, two new bedrooms, bathroom, laundry and ensuite to the master.

How is the project unique?

The unique wedged shape site condition and multiple street frontages presented a number of opportunities for the project. After considering the pragmatic nature of the project brief requirements for additional living, bedroom, bathroom, and services; along with general residential code side setbacks, the project considers the site constraints to modestly present to New Street; a strip of intact low-scale heritage dwellings, as its primary street frontage. This is addressed by placing the main volume behind the existing high-pitched roof and by complementing its dark shade, while thoughtfully addressing the project’s additional street frontage on Murphy Street with a cushioned edge on first floor, and large, cantilevered brick eave providing shelter for vehicle parking on the ground floor, texture through materiality, and thoughtful window placement.

The project response recognises the intact heritage portion of the dwelling by minimising new works to this portion of the dwelling and re-using or restoring where possible. The textural material palette brings visual interest while the more considered decisions such as window awnings provide shading the North aspect aid in solar performance. Ultimately the plan arrangement enhances the existing footprint of the dwelling by engaging with the outdoors and arranging family programs to encourage togetherness.

What building methods were used?

Sustainable considerations are embedded in the project and include that of materiality; through the use of re-claimed brickwork and renewable material in the timber cladding. Solar shading to the north aspect windows and program siting considerations were given to new living zones to harness the East morning sun. Solar provisioning allows the dwelling to convert to full solar in the future along with generous water storage for reticulation. The entire home including the heritage portion was fully insulated reducing the load on heating and cooling.

Who are the clients and what’s interesting about them?

The project, a purpose-built family home aims to address the core requirement for the family that resides in it; to serve as a time capsule for the memories of the family that occupy it for the years to come, to enhance their future living and connection with the outdoors. Our process of re-programming and re-imagining a Federation home for contemporary use with a family

future in mind, considers allowances of additional amenity & infrastructure. As the family grows and requirements change, the plan provides adaptable spaces for change of use. Technologically, on-site power generation is considered with the provisioning for solar collection to power the home. Given the consideration for re-programming and aspect, the new owners delight in light-filled spaces that adapt to their daily family needs.

New Street House in Brighton, Melbourne – Building Information

Design: Ben & Ben Architects – https://www.benandben.com.au/
Project size: 199 sqm
Site size: 330 sqm
Project Budget: AUD 1,030,000.00
Completion date: 2023
Building levels: 2