What’s old is new
From Sanctuary magazine issue 9.
By Fiona Negrin
When Bronwyn moved into her inner Melbourne home 20 years ago she knew one day she’d like to make a few changes. The kitchen was south facing, making it dark and uninviting, while the north facing laundry and toilet enjoyed some of the loveliest light in the house! She would have also preferred a little extra space when friends and relatives came to stay.
After years of planning, making sure she knew exactly what was needed to improve her home’s liveability, Bron was ready at last to begin her home renovation. But something was nagging at her. To build an extension for an extra bedroom would mean taking space away from her beloved garden. Bron was reluctant to sacrifice her edible herbs, colourful ornamentals or fruit trees. She was also concerned about the impact that an extension would have on her ‘ecological footprint’.
Finally, Bron found a solution that would improve her home’s amenity and allow her to keep her garden. Simply by reconfiguring the existing rooms and passageways – by moving a few walls and doors – Bron gained an extra bedroom and new living areas in the sun-filled north side of the house. These spaces allow her to give priority to the activities she loves most – cooking, gardening and being with people – while barely enlarging the house’s existing floor plan.
Sitting in the study, with Bumpy the cat sprawled across the sun-dappled floor, Bron explains. “I’d originally thought of building a second storey, as you do, but I’ve been various shades of green for a long time. When I started to think it through I realised that I worry about housing ‘obesity’, and I would have been part of the problem rather than offering a solution. I realised that I wanted to use less resources in the building process, which also means less resources in the long-term, ongoing operation of the house.”
In collaboration with local architect Ande Bunbury, the new design has left the front, east-facing section of the house intact but jumbled the rooms in the rear. The laundry and toilet were moved from the north side to the west (which necessitated a tiny extension, less than 1.5 metres wide) that in turn has freed up the north side for living spaces. Doorways were shifted to create a new, more direct passage through the house.
Ande says the new design emerged from her sustainability principles, which are shared by Bron. “Often people come to me with a brief for a renovation or extension to the back of the house, but I’ll always ask how we can improve the comfort of the whole house, not just the extension. I always first look to reconfiguring existing spaces, before building new ones.
A small study (where the laundry used to be) and neighbouring combined kitchen and dining room are the principal changes. “This little study has gained the most,’ Bron remarks. Nestled between the kitchen-dining room and the lounge room, the study ‘has become the focus of the house. It really has. When I’m cooking in the kitchen, my daughter can be in the study and we can talk while we work. I can incorporate cooking, gardening and living in the one ‘open plan’ area.”
In small spaces, storage is always an issue. In Bron’s house, a generous 1.2 metres of storage is ingeniously squirreled away in the wall that joins the kitchen and the new bedroom. Part of the storage cavity is accessed from the bedroom wardrobe, and a custom-built pantry and fridge in the kitchen takes up the remainder. The pantry contains wire baskets instead of shelves, and utilises a ‘stack effect’, where warmth from the fridge motor helps draw in cool air from under the house and the hot air is expelled through a wind-powered vent in the roof. This economical idea was inspired by permaculture principles and makes the pantry cool enough to store fresh vegetables and dairy products, enabling Bron to downsize her fridge.
Bron feels that at last, the house is truly hers. ‘That’s not to say that everyone should have to renovate to make a house theirs. I wanted to focus on my loves: cooking, eating, gardening and living. But sustainability is the mantle over everything. Every little bit helps.’ She pauses thoughtfully, perhaps recollecting the journey that’s brought her here. ‘It’s a minefield to incorporate everything. But there are some clear cut answers, like passive solar design.’ Bumpy the cat rolls over in his puddle of sun, and purrs his approval.
