Colour Block House
Year: 2023
Type: Architectural and Interior Design
Country: Ngunnawal
-
Colour Block House, a project that layers a new design language with a much-loved existing architectural design.
The project is located in Canberra’s north within the 1970s Wybalena Grove housing development, which comprises 105 semi-detached townhouses. Each is nestled within generous community gardens and linked by pedestrian paths and private gardens. Designed by Michael Dysart and Partners in 1974, the architecture champions small, but spatially generous dwellings, passive solar orientation and preserves engulfing bushland.
Situated within the Sydney Regional style, the townhouses are made from natural materials such as brown-grey face bricks and expressed timber work, which includes a touch of mission brown. We have preserved or restored the original ‘bones’ of the dwelling, adapting it to meet our clients functional brief, enhancing the warm and natural material pallet and adding joyful colours that contrast with the muted brown-grey brick exterior of the iconic mid-century townhouse.
Our design work explores colour and texture, with inspiration drawn from the work of Cressida Campbell. Campbell’s work is characterised by domestic settings, often including native flora, incidental colourful furnishings, textiles, ceramics and bushland views. We sought to recreate this level of consideration and composition within the interior design.
The colours are the essence of the project. Based on nature, they reference the surrounding bushland, and our client’s collection of art, craft work and mid-century furnishings. Deep green and blue-gum bathrooms are coupled with a kitchen that with glows pinks and apricots, especially in the filtered afternoon sunlight. Many artworks, the majority of which are created by women, adorn the interior spaces, adding rich colours and textures that complement the interior design and bushland hues.
We introduced beautiful honey-toned timber floors that bounce glowing light throughout the spaces. The original open tread timber stair was restored, allowing for light to spill between the split-levels, and we recreated a tiled entry honouring the original, and in reference to other mid-century Canberra houses. The existing woodfire stove was replaced with an energy-efficient model, supplemented by reverse-cycle heating and cooling. The bold design of the fireplace provides a primal focus to the living space and references the triangular forms of the original architecture. The existing timber window frames were restored and retrofitted with double glazing. Additionally, new insulation, gap sealing, and colour-block curtains improve the environmental performance of the house.
Renovation is a sustainable building practice as it uses the existing built fabric and minimises demolition and waste. We champion this project for not seeking more, but seeking better and more beautiful.
-
Lean Timms
-
Not limited to, but include:
Al Munro (Entry painting)
Angelina Ngale (Study painting)
Annie Trevillian (Loft, side wall, printed work)
Estelle Briedis (Commissioned Entry curtains and painted work to Dining area)
Heath Nash (Signage above entry door)
Jack Dale Mengenen (Lounge Area, painting)
Katjarra Butler (Kitchen area, painting)
Megan Hinton (Bed 01, printed work)
Kurt Ostervig (20th Century Scandinavia) designed the desk and shelving unit on the ground level