Hasta La Ideas

Wooden structures and traditional joinery are used in this Melbourne takeaway chicken shop by local interior designers Hecker Guthrie to evoke the appearance of a chicken coop.

The cafe in Port Melbourne is named Foxes Den after the animals renowned for pilfering chickens from their roosts, so Hecker Guthrie played on this theme by referencing the wooden enclosures used to keep chickens. The studio created pine wood structures that house the kitchen, serving area and dining tables.

“The built forms inserted into Foxes Den where informed by agricultural shapes and framing ideas seen in chicken coops, and also barn forms and lean-tos,” said Hecker Gutherie senior interior designer Josh Watt.

The structure in the centre of the space is used as a dining table. Beige canvas blinds around the sides aim to make the otherwise open four-poster table more intimate.

Screens made from diagonal planks, wooden beams and columns appear to be dip-dyed in orange paint. The walls are lined with concrete panels and dark slate tiles are used for the floor.

“There is certain nostalgia to the diagonal pine wall linings, which provide warmth and texture against the concrete and canvas,” the designers said.

Pine wood stools designed to match the other carpentry each have three legs locked together with a metal joint, created by Australian designer Henry Wilson. Benches and shelving along the walls support plant boxes that hang from the ends of the surfaces.

The menu is written on blackboards above the counter, which is covered in white tiles across the front. Photography is by Shannon McGrath.

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references a chicken coop appeared first on Dezeen.

A twisted angular roof oversails this extension to a suburban house in Melbourne by Australian architects March Studio (+ slideshow).

March Studio, which is best known for designing a series of stores for Aesop, was tasked with renovating an existing bungalow in Kensington and adding an extension that doubles the size of the interior.

For the existing house, the architects retained the Edwardian facade but re-planned the interior to accommodate only bedrooms and bathrooms.

The new two-storey structure extends from the rear of the house. The architects excavated part of the ground, allowing them to create a concrete basement and parking area with a timber-clad ground-floor level above.

“The new extension is not meant to be sympathetic to an older style but rather has been shaped by the clients’ brief, solar access and one of Melbourne’s best views back onto the city,” said the architects.

The angular black-zinc roof extends over a large living and dining room, and is angled up at two corners to allow light to filter in through clerestory windows.

“This simple twisting operation grabs light and views,” said the architects. “The action and drama of the twist is expressed and amplified on the ceiling below by a series of hand-plugged timber battens.”

The concrete structure on the level below contains a children’s playroom with circular glass skylights overhead, as well as a wine cellar, a laundry room and a bathroom.

A car can be parked beneath the projecting upper level, while a terrace and garden are positioned just beyond.

The building is named Mullet House, as a reference to the hairstyle that different at the back than at the front. According to the architects, a passerby has described the house as “formal up front with the party out the back”.

Here’s some text from the architects:

Mullet House

Situated in Melbourne’s inner-city suburb of Kensington, ‘The Mullet’ performs contorted gymnastics in order to facilitate an ambitious brief on a small, yet opportunistic site.

The clients, Scott Smith and Phoebe Moore, wanted to commission not only a new and comfortable home, but also sought a challenging design. Running a family business in construction, Scott and Phoebe’s own home would become an opportunity for them to showcase their own capabilities.

A Heritage overlay shaped the design for the front of the dwelling, requiring that the cottage facade and first few rooms flanking Hardiman Street be retained and renovated, (red roof and all). This is where the formality is, the face to the heritage land of Eastwood Street blends seamlessly with its cottage neighbours. Three bedrooms and two bathrooms are resolved into the pre-determined Edwardian shell, freeing up the new extension for the living areas.

The fun begins to emerge when rounding Hardiman Street. ‘I don’t like it’ – says one of the locals half way through construction. ‘It’s not in keeping with the area…’ The new extension is not meant to be sympathetic to an older style but rather been shaped by the clients’ brief, solar access and one of Melbourne’s best views back onto the city.

The balancing act that the local resident detested emerged when the brief called for off-street parking. The house would straddle the parking area, and even with the grade of Hardiman Street to advantage, excavation was unavoidable. Since a digger would be coming to site anyway, the opportunity to dig a little deeper and sink a large concrete box (along with the children in it) was far too good to refuse.

Buried within the concrete box is the rumpus room, wine cellar, laundry, and an additional bathroom. The box is capped with a concrete lid and garnished with strategically placed, trafficable glass skylights. The monolithic form anchors the new building into the side of the hill and is finished internally by the rough reality of building – and being – underground.

The concrete lid of the concrete box is not only the ceiling for below, but also the floor in both the kitchen and exterior deck. The pivot around which the other spaces are spun, the kitchen serves all parts of the house, while the dining and living areas are tucked up above the garage and closer to the night sky of Melbourne’s city lights. Timber battens clad the extension, wrapping the three spaces together and providing a linear base for the last hovering piece.

Soaring above the living spaces is the black zinc roof. On the northern edge the roof is pulled up to increase natural light to the northwest corner, and pushed down to the neighbouring building on Hardiman Street on the northeast, so as not to overshadow it. On the south side, the operation is reversed, and the southwest corner is lifted to create a framed view of the city. This simple twisting operation grabs light and views from two corners and anchors the remaining two with rain heads falling to collection tanks. The action and drama of the twist is expressed and amplified on the ceiling below by a series of hand-plugged timber battens.

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March Studio appeared first on Dezeen.

Australian studio Edwards Moore has revamped a small brick house in Melbourne by adding a new storey and a translucent roof (+ slideshow).

Architects Ben Edwards and Juliet Moore were tasked with increasing the size of the single-storey terraced house, as well as improving the quality of space and light inside each of its rooms.

A new storey was added over the existing structure, with a translucent roof that diffuses light through the entire upper level. Unlike the lower walls, which are made from brick and feature peeling paintwork, the extension comes with a clean black facade created by standing-seam cladding.

The new level accommodates a living room on one side and a kitchen/dining room on the other, freeing up space on the ground floor for a reception room and two generous bedrooms.

“[We] considered the addition of the second floor not simply as the addition of horizontal plane perched atop the existing structure, but equally as a vertical room that creates a great sense of volume and unity within the dwelling as a whole,” said Edwards.

A layer of perforated metal sits above exposed wooden rafters to give a see-through floor to the living room, allowing light and views down to the spaces below.

“The translucent skin floods the spaces with natural light, and strategically placed openings create a central internal landscape,” added the architect.

Cantilevered wooden treads provide a floating staircase between the two floors, resonating with the rhythm of the exposed rafters above.

Edwards Moore also recently renovated another house in Melbourne, leaving peeling plasterwork to expose sections of brick walls.

Other residential projects by the studio include a house with a combined kitchen counter and staircase, plus an apartment with chunky chipboard lining its walls.

See more architecture by Edwards Moore »
See more houses in Australia »

Photography is by Fraser Marsden.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Lightbox House

A small single-storey terrace house, dwarfed by the surrounding urban fabric. The aim, to increase the quality and scale of the living spaces within, improve the sense of aspect/outlook and access to natural light, whilst maintaining a private and comforting oasis.

By considering the addition of the second floor not simply as the addition of horizontal plane perched atop the existing structure, but equally as a vertical room which, through its connectivity between ‘branches’, creates a great sense of volume and unity within the dwelling as a whole. The translucent skin floods the spaces with natural light, and strategically placed openings create a central internal landscape.

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Edwards Moore appeared first on Dezeen.

With a client list that includes the Washington Post, Rare Medium, QANTAS, Desktop and Inside Out, Sonia Rentsch is making a name for herself with unique, eye-catching images that force you to see everyday objects in…

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News: a team comprising Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and Australian firm Hassell has won the high-profile competition to redesign Melbourne’s iconic railway station at Flinders Street.

Seeing off competition from architects including Zaha Hadid and Grimshaw, Herzog & de Meuron and Hassell‘s proposals were selected by a panel of architects and experts as the preferred option for the overhaul of the nineteenth-century Flinders Street Station and its surrounding spaces, including the restoration of the iconic dome and clock tower.

The winning design includes the construction of a new barrel-vaulted roof structure that envelops the station and brings dappled light and ventilation onto both new and improved station concourses. The architects also plan to add a new public art gallery dedicated to oceanic and contemporary art, a public plaza, a marketplace, an amphitheatre and a permanent home for some of the city’s cultural festival organisations.

Existing taxi ranks would be located to a more suitable location on Flinders Street, while the existing tram stop would be redesigned and a new cycle route would be inserted beneath the station in an old concourse, connecting with existing routes along the Yarra River.

“Our proposal respects the heritage, improves all aspects of the transport hub, and underscores its central civic nature with new cultural and public functions for all residents and visitors to Melbourne,” says the design team on the competition website.

The judges praised the scheme for its “beautiful and compelling integration of aspects of the original station design” and supported the decision to keep the height down on the east side, but increase it to the west.

“The extended vaulted forms provide a distinctive branding for the city, their eastern elevation to Swanston Street imaginatively recalls the intended – but not executed – proposition by Fawcett and Ashworth [the architects of the existing station building] of a family of variously scaled vaults,” they said. “At the same time, however, the language is clearly contemporary, underlined by the fact that the new line-up of vaults is bracketed by the pair of historic Flinders Street Station buildings facing the Swanston Street concourse.”

They continued:” The main train hall offers a celebratory experience of rail travel; its light-weight structure promises a filigree of ever-changing dappled light while providing ventilation, shelter and way-finding. The vaulted form will appeal to the universal collective memory of the great station terminuses of the past”.

The architects are awarded a $500,000 (£300,000) prize and the Victorian Government has two years to decide whether to proceed with the scheme.

The same team was not the winner of the public vote, as proposals by Colombian architects Eduardo Velasquez, Manuel Pineda and Santiago Medina topped the poll on the competition website.

Their designs called for the addition of a public garden over the roof of the station, with glazed domes over the tops of platforms. See images of this project and the other shortlisted entries »

Herzog & de Meuron also recently won a competition to design a a visual culture museum in Hong Kong’s new West Kowloon Cultural District. See more architecture by Herzog & de Meuron »

Another recent design competition asked architects to consider the future of Grand Central Station in New York. See proposals by SOM, Foster + Partners and WXY Architecture »

Here’s a summary of the scheme from the competition website:

Flinders Street Station Design Competition Winner

Overall Design Merit

Decades after the people of Melbourne first talked about “meeting under the clocks” at Flinders Street Station, the HASSELL + Herzog and de Meuron proposal updates it for the 21st Century, turning it from a place to hurry through to a destination.

The overall design merit of the proposal can be seen in a new, major public art gallery, public plaza, amphitheatre, marketplace, and a permanent home for arts and cultural festival organisations. But we have also delivered the glory of the first 19th Century design for Flinders Street Station.

Transport Function

Transport function is greatly improved, with new or improved concourses making it easier to get in and out. New weather-proof vaulted roofs flood the platforms with dappled, natural light and ventilation. Taxi ranks are relocated to Flinders Street and the tram stop between the station and Federation Square redesigned to improve the connection across St Kilda Road. A bike path under the station through the old western concourse links cycle ways on the river and Elizabeth Street.

Cultural Heritage and Iconic Status

The cultural heritage and iconic status of the station is protected, with the built fabric that most people are familiar with – the Flinders Street building and corner entrance pavilion – are both retained, and paintwork returned to the original colours.

The vaulted roofs that greatly improve the passenger experience are inspired by features of the original design that were never realised. The new elements, particularly the Oceanic and Contemporary Art Gallery, enhance the station’s iconic status.

Urban Design and Precinct Integration

Good urban design and precinct integration breathe new life into the city, stitching it together. The restored station and the new art gallery fill the missing link between the cultural precinct encompassing St Kilda Road and Federation Square with the old Customs House and the Immigration Museum on Flinders Street.

The station itself is better integrated with the city, the river and Federation Square. Distinctive and memorable architecture sits with significant civic space and high quality public amenity.

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in Melbourne station competition appeared first on Dezeen.