The Melbourne home of architect Chris Stribley centres around several design elements where materiality and spatial planning are given equal consideration.
Working in residential architecture, and specifically adaptive re-use that honours original detailing and connection to place, Cera Stribley has accrued a portfolio of projects informed by modernist ideals—”including but not limited to materiality, form, and site sensitivity”.
Programmed so that the main bedroom and en suite are tucked away in the new part of the house, “in their own pod”, the children’s rooms are in the original volume with their own bathroom. This affords Stribley and partner Tash “some semblance of our own space amid the madness” of family life with two under five. As both the client and architect for Harvest House, Cera Stribley, co-founder Chris Stribley says that he didn’t want a big house. “I wanted to maximise garden space, and to blur the boundaries between inside and out.”
With the home sited along the eastern boundary, the living spaces incorporate north- and west-facing courtyards. All rooms have direct access to and are planned around the garden. “We’ll often pick fresh vegetables and herbs from the garden together. We love to cook, so having a kitchen space that is open and feels connected to the rest of the living spaces (both indoor and outdoor) was really important to us. This way, when we’re cooking—no matter whether it’s a quiet night at home with just us or if we have guests over—everyone can be a part of the action.”
Tasmanian ash panelling, porcelain tiles, and rough aerated concrete render in the addition enhance the connection to the outdoors.
Pictured: The B&B Italia Tufty-Time sofa and Flos Illuminator floor lamp.
Grounding the structure within its garden surroundings, the architect’s double-fronted Victorian-era worker’s cottage restoration applies contrasting and unconventional finishes to the addition. Typically outdoor materials—rough stucco render, exterior pavers, and raw textures—are brought into the home’s interior shaping its connection with and softening the threshold between internal and outdoor spaces. Surfaces are selected with the intent that they will patina, stainless steel in the kitchen will acquire scratches as will the timber island bench developing a character of its own. Whereas the heritage volume is more traditional with white plasterboard walls and deep burgundy and terracotta tones in the joinery and flooring.
“Other than the garden, obviously, my favourite features are all the little details you can’t see”, Stribley says. “The pocket doors, the hidden pelmets, the flyscreens that disappear into the wall whenever they’re not in use. I love that there is not a single downlight in the house. And that there are speakers hidden all throughout the house. Oh, and the kitchen island bench—because I made it.”
“What I didn’t anticipate was how much life would shift between planning the house and living in it.
I was single when I first drew the plans and got the permit. By the time Tash and I moved in, we had a baby—and now we have two. In light of that, there are definitely a few things I’d do differently. More wardrobe space. A bigger laundry. I wouldn’t have put the condenser for the heating unit right outside the spare bedroom window – because now that’s my daughter’s window. But overall, I’m proud of how well it’s adapted.”
Pictured: Astep Model 2065 pendants in the communal dining area.
Solid stucco elements are juxtaposed against timber-clad recesses.
The heritage volume is more traditional with white plasterboard walls complemented by deep burgundy and terracotta hues.
The material palette for the new addition was selected with the intent that it will patina.
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