design a robust, contemporary residential addition in poetic juxtaposition to the heritage elegance of a family home in Melbourne’s leafy inner south-east.
Defined by an approach that mediates between heritage relevance and contemporary resilience, Colonnade House has emerged as a home with a proud duality.
A new rear extension has been realised through a design language that counterbalances the traditional Federation origins that define the home’s front section, with contemporary materials and refined aesthetics. Splinter Society carefully draw out similarities that can be found between old and new, highlighting the timelessness of the original while re-orienting key characteristics in an entirely modern way.
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The kitchen’s monochrome palette and material strength reflect the monolithic form of the colonnade while receding gently to allow for bolder hues of textiles and artworks throughout the home.
From the moment of entry, Colonnade House unfolds across eras to navigate from a traditional layout of contained bedrooms, bathrooms and a study at the front of the home through to a strikingly modern and open-plan expanse of living zones at the rear. The transition from old to new relies on candid response to the site, context and habitation. In creating a dialogue with the elegant heritage notes, the addition allows for an entirely modern adaptation of the home’s original characteristics.
The old is adorned with decorative details, while the new contains a restrained modern decorative grain of refined steel, timber, render and tile detailing. The traditional layout contains closed-off rooms, while the extension uses architectural devices to create a free-flowing plan that maintains its spatial and programmatic definition. The old contains intersecting gabled rooflines, while the new mimics these with minimal geometric roof forms and lofty ceilings. The old features decorative timber windows, while , linking old to new. innovative approach to elevating a traditional medium and exploring a more sustainable solution reveals itself through this successful linking of the period home and new extension.
In the same way that the fine profiles of reflect and juxtapose the black timber accents, the contemporary areas, laid out in an L-shape, are free-flowing spaces in direct contradiction to the closed intimacy in the period part of the home.
Filtered natural light spills through the blades of the colonnade that gives the home its name.
The De Sede DS-266 recliner chair and Wittmann Grain Cut table.
Clean, seamless black frames from address both aesthetic purity and material resilience and connect the front of the home to the garden at the rear.
A conversation between the existing and contemporary sections of Colonnade House occurs through sensitivity to both materiality and form. A new entry between the original section of the home and the addition gestures towards the black painted timberwork throughout the bedrooms, bathrooms and office in the front section of the home before plunging inhabitants into the new. From there, Splinter Society has employed a literal unfolding of architecture as the new addition is navigated, a colonnade style from which the home takes its name.
In the same way that the fine profiles of reflect and juxtapose the black timber accents, the contemporary areas, laid out in an L-shape, are free-flowing spaces in direct contradiction to the closed intimacy in the period part of the home. Constructed primarily from concrete and largely devoid of colour, the living and kitchen spaces are austerely timeless, filled with natural light which flows through expanses of bespoke steel framed glazing, and work to emphasise the Federation elements through contrast, respectfully giving the two disparate aesthetics space to exist as separate but complementary elements.
in the bedroom continue the clean, linear architectural character of the new extension. The bedroom also features a ‘Paris-au-Mois-Daout’ pendant in Kyris Grey.
The colonnade draws navigation through to the rear garden while filtering and screening light between interior and exterior. A collection of intimate, sunny, garden-connected window daybeds and pedestals to house sculptures sit between the columns, which in turn support a simple black gable formed roof.
The control of both natural and artificial light is integral to the home’s ambience while supporting the owner’s artistic vocation. The colonnade form also works to frame views of the surrounding garden while directing the fall of light across a tactile curation of surfaces which unite a diverse rotation of artworks in the home.
A palette of hand brushed timbers, plasters, concrete, and ceramic tiles provides a muted backdrop further elevated by dark mirrors, metal sheeting, and decorative steelwork to enhance and reflect these surfaces. Every design facet of Colonnade House works in concert to create an overarching sense of unity and intent.
Splinter Society has drawn on the timeless aesthetics and enduring structural integrity of concrete and steel throughout the home. The home assumes a new identity through the use of classic profile that support the striking expanses of glazing, the architectural purity of concrete and the geometric precision of the colonnade. The outcome is a light-drenched family home that considers heritage and contemporary dialogues in a way that allows both to exist independently but in seamless accord.
Splinter Society’s new rear extension has inserted a bold new persona at Colonnade House, respecting the Federation-era origins without competing with them.
Splinter Society has unified the front federation style of the home with the overtly contemporary new rear addition through the creation of candid dialogue between the two.
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