june&john’s
renovation and minor addition to a residence
completed 2009

a great deal of our architecture is interior work
often there is insufficient site area to really expand, or the budget will not cover larger, more interventionist actions such as demolition and rebuilding, or more often than not the existing configuration of space is so badly handled that a simple [and I use the word simple advisedly] reworking of the plan will allow for adequate space to achieve the extra requirements a given client/s brief seeks to have answered
interior work is just the same as architectural work except you are working to greater tolerances and most of your time is spent with a cabinet maker rather than the builder

this project falls neatly into this arena

a small under-utilised internal courtyard separated the dining zone from the kitchen, casual living / eating areas to the rear of the house
part of the separation was due to the insertion of a water closet… commonly referred to as a toilet running the lengh of the courtyard

to address this issue we engulfed the internal courtyard, installing mechanically controlled velux skylights so as we still achieved equal daylighting and access to ventilation and then created a central pod which housed discretely the existing wc on the main corridor side and backed the fridge, ovens and general storage to the other




we used the existing party wall to run the main body of the kitchen through the pre-existing courtyard to meet the former, formal diningroom at one end and now enlarged living areas to the rear
at it’s intersection with the living space we designed in a black glass and stainless steel breakfast bar come newspaper reading table to emerge from, elongate and further anchor the central pod

the pod itself was completely over clad in spotted gum battens that played a broken rhythm created by the intermixing the four different batten sizes we had had machined for the purpose
giving the builder on this project giuliano of gande constructions an undeserved headache or his case a migraine
despite which he worked tirelessly to ensure the setout of the battens worked so as none of the many doors bound one to the other on opening, and he did this without a set-out drawing, preferring instead to work it out on site as he went




the overall effect was that the pod became a sculptural object within the space itself, with the functioning aspects hidden or invisible within the overall patterning
as such a utilitarian insert such as the downstairs powder room or loo and the position of the fridge become the domain of ‘insider knowledge’

our client/s can now enjoy what is a very elegant victorian home, in a less formal way
and their light filled rear garden, which was formerly completely disconnected from the centre of their home, is now reflected along the black glass of the kitchen through into their dining room