because of the lack of space into which we could expand we needed to treat maurice’s house in a similar fashion as you may treat an apartment
you look for flexibility of space and ambiguity of purpose
kitchen benchtops become dining area, seating tucks under stair runs
wc are hidden in pod like structures that wrap around to become part of the kitchen fabric
space becomes flexible and playfull
the one main spatial addition we managed to find was to re- route the stair into a small leftover piece of external space thus alleviating the pressure of space to the main living space
ln maurices eyes this one design solution was worth our entire schematic fee…or so he told us at the time
the process of gaining permits, engineering and documenting, tendering went relatively without a hitch

a builder was chosen
their price upon negotiating was acceptable to our client
we had not worked with them before so we investigated their prior performances ringing both former clients and architects who had worked with them
well if you have ever watched grand designs … the thing l respect about grand designs is that it doesn’t attempt to paint the process of designing and building as this dream like painless experience.. it shows the real process warts and all
designing and building is a long process that travels over many beauracricies, consultants, professionals and trades and is at the mercy of many of them if not all, not to mention the fluctuating costs of materials unexpected site conditions ..the weather!

the thing about a builder heading south in the middle of a project is that you are left with two options , either terminate their contract or otherwise attempt to cajole and badger them to finish the project with as little collaterole damage as possible
either way is time hungry, stressfull and not a pleasant way to spend ones day let alone weeks…months….
our main emphasis is to work with the builder, they have entered a contract and without good cause they should see it through
attempting to find another builder to finish anothers work within the initial budget constraints can be a hard task

it is one thing to design architecture… getting it built is another
perseverance is a word that is thrown around our office frequently
we finally got the builder to finish this project… screaming and kicking and Maurice moved into his new home
l should ring him sometime to see how he is

project design team
tim o’sullivan architect
sioux clark interior designer

photographs
multiplicity