Terracotta House / Austin Maynard Architects

By Editor On Aug 8, 2021

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https://www.archdaily.com/963698/terracotta-house-austin-maynard-architects

Area area of this architecture project

Area:
255 m²
Year Final year of this architectural project

Year:

2020
photos

Photos: Derek Swalwell
Manufacturer brands with products used in this architectural project

Manufacturer: About space, Barazza, Light green, Bread ware, Nicek, Daikin, Designer door ware, Dulux, Eco outdoors, Grohe, Häfele, Johnson tiles, Laminex, Masson for light, Methven, Qasair, Reece, Westinghouse, Blackbutt, Bosch, +7Caroma, EC group, Foolscap Studios, Kliplock, Monier Nullabor, Tiento tiles, Willie Weston-7

Text description of the architects. Our client lived in busy, vibrant, bohemian Fitzroy and asked us to help her change trees without changing the zip code. Her priority was to have a large vegetable garden and farmhouse while she stayed in town. With our help, she found an inner-city house with a huge backyard in a community-oriented enclave. We built her new home in the back of the block and renovated the original house in the front for her son’s family. There is a large productive garden and communal pavilion between the two cottages. With the subtle mix of shared and private spaces, this is a multigenerational house like no other.

Terracotta House is essentially a communal family complex – similar to a village square, where the owner and her son’s family live individually in houses in a shared block. As an architecture office, we always strive to maximize space, connect interiors with the garden, embrace the street and make optimal use of the alleys. The website Belinda acquired had the potential to bring all of these ideas and more to life.

The original house facing the street is oriented to the north and the character of the house has been preserved and enhanced through a well thought-out interior renovation and some maintenance work. A wood-clad Victorian workers cottage, the house has been rearranged internally with the living areas (kitchen / dining room / living room) being moved from the back of the house to the front – facing the street and front yard and facing the sun. Walls were removed and a new kitchen and bathroom installed, which made it easier to develop.

The front garden and the veranda have not changed too much in their form, but have changed in their function – rather as a purely decorative space, it is now a productive, work and recreation space that ties in with life on this friendly, community-rich street. The two bedrooms and the bathroom are now in the back of the house, a quieter and more private location.

The common pavilion is located along the central western border. A demilitarized zone with a laundry room and toilet that serves as a library, guest room, writer’s studio, music room and general social / entertainment room.

At the back of the block with independent access to the back alley is the Terracotta House itself. Not your average granny flat, it is architecturally, very detailed and beautiful, mostly built of terracotta tiles – a nod to the owner’s love for gardening. Built from border to border for maximum northern lights, it consists of living room, kitchen / dining room, bathroom and study / guest room on the ground floor and master bedroom and en-suite bathroom on the upper floor.

Terracotta House encompasses multi-generational living, but with a twist. Where typically a young family tries to accommodate and care for their retired parents, it is here the mother Belinda who helps her son and his wife; to give them the opportunity to live in a vibrant inner-city suburb of Melbourne close to their workplaces that they would otherwise not be able to afford.

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