Projects

McKenzie House

Year Designed: 1987
Year Built: 1988
Client: Jennie and David McKenzie
Location: Melbourne, VIC

Awards

2000
Name: Special Jury Commendation
Awarded By: Metal Building Products Manufacturers Association

This extension to a house originally completed by Ashton Raggatt McDougall in 1988 is a fulfillment of a project that was always intended as a 2-stage development. The clients with a family of three young children had steadily outgrown the original two bedroom building since they first moved in twelve years ago. The original house was designed to be fully functional and complete for the young family then, but also designed to receive a “plug-in” when needed.

Stage 2 consisting of a new lounge and dinning area, 2 bedrooms, a study, additional bathrooms, more storage, a wine cellar, a large rumpus room and an extended deck to link the old and new added 180 squares to the original house.

Though intended from the beginning, this new wing was not designed until the clients called to say they were ready for it. The budget, as usual, was tight for the amount of extra accommodation required. The choice of building materials as critical design issue was also a serious cost issue from the beginning. This Stage 2 also needed to have an aesthetic consistency with Stage 1 without necessarily duplicating design elements.

Stage 1 was conceived around the idea of homes for the homeless; using industrial remnants as shelter. Hence the look of a large “freeway section” of the balcony in the Stage 1 house.

Stage 2 was an opportunity to extend the genre. Metal cladding in the form of Stramit 305 in Zincalume was chosen both as roof as well as wall cladding; creating a “container” to house the bulk of the new building. The strength and consistency of the design principles used in both stages of the building holds a distinct looking addition to a visually strong existing building together in a harmony of parallel narratives.

Penetrations in the metal cladding of the building are a conscious exercise in framing selected views and sun control. Views from the dining/lounge area are directed at the private circular garden to the north and the grand view across the river flats over to the Kew Cottages to the south. Small regular windows along the west façade has alternating glass and aluminium louvres to optimize both views and sun control.

Return to project menu.