Cremorne House

On a very tight site in Richmond’s Cremorne neighbourhood an old heritage listed worker’s cottage stands. The client’s brief was to transform this into a minimalist new family dwelling, with sleeping downstairs and simple open plan living upstairs that could accommodate frequent entertaining/parties. The front envelope of the cottage was retained with a new double storey addition to the majority of the remaining site. Tight sites often require clever solutions to maximise natural light. In this case we chose to clad the extension in polycarbonate, resulting in the interior glowing throughout the day with diffused natural light, and then becoming beacon-like during the evenings, animating the neighbourhood with the life occurring within its walls. A gridded structure resulted in large south facing skylights, providing views of the sky, whilst not impacting on the neighbouring properties privacy. At the eastern end a large glazed window frames long views down the rear laneway towards the activity on Church Street beyond. At the western end the extension stops short of the original roof, creating a secluded terrace with views across the rooftop towards the MCG and city.