Mt Hawthorn Residence

"RESEARCH BACKGROUND<br />This small extension to a house on the city edge creates a language of new parts by manipulating and exaggerating qualities of the existing house to form a sympathetic dialogue between old and new while exploiting the entire site. <br /><br />RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION<br />The project continues Martyn Hook's (IPH) research into the re-calibration of the Australian suburb, where old homes are adapted for new lifestyles. In this case the geometry of the hipped roof is manipulated to create a new form in the internal space of the addition. A long axis is defined then intersected, folded and punctured to strategically reveal fragments of space. The existing ceiling reflects a hierarchy of space. The new space continues this elaboration of the ceiling but transforms it, literally, unfolding to allow north sun to enter the new living space while poetically embracing the garden. Consequently, this spatial exploration presents an innovative use of maximising limited space.<br /><br />RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE<br />The project has been exhibited extensively: it formed part of the New Trends in Architecture exhibition, 2007, which toured in Tokyo, Europe and Australia. It featured extensively in the touring exhibition Living the Modern, Australian Architecture, 2007. It was published in the accompanying catalogue and in 100 Top Houses from Down Under, by Robyn Beaver (ed), 2005. It also won a Commendation in Alterations and Additions at the 2006 RAIA WA Chapter Awards."<br /&gt