A Flexible, Light-Filled Extension Opens Up a Family’s Victorian Cottage in Melbourne

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Project Details:

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Architect: Architecture architecture / @architecture_architecture

Footprint: 1,668 square feet

Builder: i.d Built

Structural & Civil Engineer: Measure Engineering

Landscape Design: Shape & Form

Photographer: Tom Ross / @tomross.xyz

From the Architect: "At the end of the school day, some family homes feel more like community centers: classmates and neighbors bustling in and out, sharing in homework, hobbies, art projects and food; practicing music, preparing impromptu dinners, concocting magical potions, all the while regaling with stories of the day’s adventures. Mess Hall is this kind of home. Once a typical 19th-century Victorian terrace with narrow corridors, shadowy rooms, and a quiet formality, the ground floor now presents a big, light-filled, welcoming hall—an almost civic space—adaptable to the whims of family, friends, and creative collaborators.

"And yet the house retains some of its formality. Upon entry and preceding the main hall, an intimate parlor offers respite: a place for quiet conversation, reading, or music practice, where dark timber bookshelves are the backdrop to a collection of vintage furniture pieces. Similarly, a small studio at the end of the garden is a place for writing, painting and quiet retreat; a backyard skillion, refined and simplified.

"Between the parlor and the garden studio, the main hall is the connective tissue, drawing the various moods and functions of the house together, with a material palette that balances quiet formality with bright informality; light and shade."