A client with a typical suburban block has benefited from the upgrade in density codings and so the old rental home is to be demolished and the lot subdivided into 2 lots, one of which will be a home for family and the other lot to be sold off.
Stage 1 is the narrow lot of around 8.5m which does present a challenge but being in control of the shared boundary line and being able to build for 2 storeys on the boundary does help get everything on there. Despite the narrow lot of 320m2, we've managed to get a very comfortable 4 bedroom 3 bathroom family home with theatre room and large entertaining main living area which spills out to a large Alfresco across the full width of the home. Just leaves enough of a back lawn to suit a small dog!
The street elevation is intended to project a contemporary rendered facade with rendered brick, balcony and a combination of window shapes to keep things interesting.
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And after the builder has made some changes, the home is built.
A large home designed to hold 2 generations of family as a daughter and her daughter join together with her parents to create a new combined family home.
The home will enjoy a larger country lot about 4 times the size of the average city lot in in an area on the edge of the current city limits.
Designed to enable the two families to enjoy their own space, sharing an entry and laundry in order to satisfy local restrictions of only one home allowed, the design is zoned for a basically turn left or turn right after the front door. Each side has their own garage with internal entry into their areas, both nice and close to their own kitchens for shoppers entry. Each also have private living areas with open plan kitchen, dining, living. Overall there are five bedrooms, three bathrooms, an office, study nook, extra storage for business files in one of the garages and a very large shared laundry. The main sumptuous kitchen enjoys an attached scullery where the more messier items can be tucked away and shut off.
The corner lot faces south and down the gentle and the two main bedrooms will enjoy a quiet look over the subdivision and the hills, protected from the harsh sun. The main living areas will face north allowing them to enjoy the low winter sun for full penetration when it's cold which means the house will require less heating in winter. In summer, regular eaves will protect the north facing glass from the harsh sun because it is so high in the sky. Windows facing east and the side street will need some protection via deciduous or other planting and there are only two west facing windows requiring protection from the late afternoon sun and one of those will be a highlight window so will have lots of protection by the eave until very late.
I've encouraged these clients to use the standard 2c cream blocks to keep costs down however we are going to use a different mortar finish technique to give the home a more rustic feeling. Rather than scrape the joints out and give a clean look to the bricks we are going to let the mortar spill out and be squashed against the wall like they do for limestone blocks. This is called Parget. The 2c bricks are very widely used for the economics but it does mean they start to look rather dull and common. This will give the brick quite a different and effective look for a country estate house as though it has been built in old limestone blocks.
Some adjustment and re-looks at the colours.
The entrance gable will be open and bold utilising natural materials to set a strong statement to the large home.
With sensitive landscaping the home should prove to provide a graceful statement.
I have to admit that I cheat on renderings because I drag the sun around to help light and shadow the front elevation which helps the client read and appreciate the home however because the front faces south (the rear perfectly faces north) there won't be much sun falling on the front elevation like I've shown above. This is actually a good thing with only bedrooms occupying these windows and so direct sun and the heat it brings is not desirable. This also gave me the opportunity to loose the eaves which are not really need with no sun to keep out which creates the period style the clients are after. This image below is a true sun position render and also shows the elevated position of the home on the semi-rural corner property located with other larger properties.
If I was cleverer I would show the front driveway cutting into the slope. The side slipway is no longer part of the project. because the lot is on a corner, there is room to access the rear of the property off the side road.
Construction has begun so it will be wonderful to see it complete as a home.
