Ranfurlie house

Renovation

This period home in Glen Iris required an extension to accommodate a growing family. The brief was to extend the house northwards to the rear of the property, incorporating formal living and dining spaces, as well as a rumpus room for the children that allowed for separation with a certain level of parental supervision.

The schemes developed play with the idea of creating structural wings. The client preferred a design incorporating the living area in the west wing and the kitchen and dining in the east wing with a staircase creating a boundary in between. The staircase incorporates see-through partitions that both separate and connect the two wings.

The site is on an incline and we took advantage of this, suggesting an excavation below ground floor to include the rumpus room, laundry and home theatre. Various schemes took into account different levels of costing but all incorporated the use of voids between the ground floor and the back glass wall, allowing for audio supervision of the rumpus room.

All three schemes presented incorporated a large glass wall in the rear, providing visual connection outside and taking full advantage of the north-facing orientation. The architects in the workshop inspired the clients with the idea of using angled glass, to reduce reflection when looking out in the day and act as a mirror from outside at night, providing a line of sight into the lower children's level.