Before & After: To Revive Their Dated Bungalow, First They Chopped It in Half
Architecture firm LiteraTrotta added a sculptural staircase, lowered the living areas to the garden, and topped it all with a serene primary suite.
Architecture firm LiteraTrotta added a sculptural staircase, lowered the living areas to the garden, and topped it all with a serene primary suite.
To stay or to go? This was the question Rhiannon Barlow and Andrew Moore asked as they sought to accommodate their growing family, now comprising their two young children, Archie and Piper, and their golden retriever, Murphy.
It had been several years since they first moved into their Californian bungalow in the Sydney suburb of Waverley, tucked between Bondi Beach and the CBD. They ultimately decided the house had the potential to become the "perfect family home"—largely thanks to the charms of its typology and the perks of its location—so they asked their friend, architect Bronwyn Litera, how she’d approach its transformation.
Before: Facade
"It was a California bungalow to begin with," says architect Bronwyn Litera of LiteraTrotta. "We wanted to maintain that character."
Photo courtesy of LiteraTrotta
After: Facade
"You can see that language is still there with the two pitched roofs. There is another pitched roof behind that as well, which is the main extension at the back of the house, but you can’t really see it from the street," explains Litera. "It’s meant to be really subtle."
Photo by Tom Ferguson
"I only recently found out that they were casually interviewing me," says Litera with a laugh. "Andrew just asked, ‘What would you do, and how would you do it?’ We had a very general chat." Later, they reached out to Litera’s studio, LiteraTrotta, which she directs with Chris Trotta, and said, "We want to formalize it."
For Rhiannon, it was a no-brainer. "When we first decided on renovating, Bronwyn and Chris were the first people we wanted to talk to about it," she says. "Once we had an initial meeting and they came up with some design ideas we were thrilled with them, so it just went from there."
Before: Entryway
Long and narrow with dark floors and low ceilings, the original bungalow’s core was devoid of light.
Photo courtesy of LiteraTrotta
See the full story on Dwell.com: Before & After: To Revive Their Dated Bungalow, First They Chopped It in Half
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