Jessamine

Designed by Folk Architects, alterations and a second-level addition to a Streamline Modern residence located in a heritage sensitive suburb within inner Melbourne. Playing with the themes, geometry and materials of the existing house, Folk reconfigured the spaces to better address the site’s orientation, and sensitively added an upper level for the growing family and a yoga studio within the garden.

The design evolved through an ongoing conversation with the clients and the architect’s observations on the way they live. Through this process qualities such as an emphasis on linkages between indoor and outdoor spaces for play, creating openness whilst providing a sense of sanctuary within, and a seamless stitch between the old and the new became important elements of the brief. To realise this, a timber-lined ceiling and concrete floor have been applied to the entry and extended throughout the living room areas to the backyard and outdoor spaces – blurring the transition between the new and the old.

This materiality guides a spatial hierarchy, and the articulation of a curved glass wall frames views of the backyard. The addition above shelters an outdoor space and references the playful and exaggerated curved forms of the main house, adopting a materiality that is honest, raw, warm and importantly, flexible – with low maintenance.