Prahran House

urning to face the sun in this Prahran addition, designed by Eliza Blair Architecture, creates a comfortable and light filled family home with a seamless connection to the garden.

EBA’s brief was to create a light filled sanctuary so our clients could unwind and relax after a stressful day.

The clients wanted their kids to have their own separate retreat room, but also ensure the main living space could handle the energy and exuberance of a busy family when required.

For this home, the starting point was a Californian Bungalow on a south facing block, built very close to each side boundary.

The house was dark and cold with the backyard often overshadowed by the existing house (in winter), and the house itself not receiving a lot of sunlight during the day.

A courtyard was inserted to detach the new extension from the old part of the house and draw in sunlight from the north.

The ceiling was also raked up towards the north so that highlight windows could be inserted the full width of the extension.

These louvered windows also allow the living areas to be naturally cooled when needed, adding cross ventilation to the list of benefits.

Adding a courtyard to a floor plan brings a lovely dual aspect to the living room, allowing views to the garden at the back as well as to the courtyard and its ever changing colours of the cherry blossom tree, allowing a sense of being surrounded by greenery on two sides.

The children can be seen (but not heard) in their playroom across the courtyard and the house now feels like the light filled sanctuary that they set out to achieve.

The EBA team carefully crafted sustainability features including:

Retention of existing building
Recycled bricks salvaged from demolition
Passive solar design techniques for improved living conditions and building performance
Super insulated walls, ceiling cavities and floors
Double-glazed high-performance windows
Water harvesting
External sun shading on north
High level louvres for natural cooling at night

Key Products Used

Exterior:

Cladding: James Hardie Scyon ‘Axon’ cladding
Windows: Aluminium double glazed

Interior:

Flooring: Made by Storey engineered timber flooring in ‘Sesame’
Benchtops: Signorino ‘Serene Grey Light’ stone
Tapware: Astra Walker ‘Icon’ series
Feature Lights: Flos IC Suspension Lamp

Project Details

Project Size – 274 m²
Site Area – 583 m²
Project Budget – $750,000
Completion Date – 2019
Building Levels – 1

Project Details

Architecture

Eliza Blair Architecture

Eliza Blair Architecture specialise in home renovations in Melbourne. They love the challenge of crafting timeless, functional homes for their clients.

www.elizablair.com.au

Furniture, Objects, Styling

Nicole Bell Design

Nicole is a Melbourne-based interior designer and stylist.

www.nicolebelldesign.com.au

Construction

James McBride & Associates

Located in Melbourne, James McBride & Associates specialise in building bespoke designed concepts, and believes clear communication is a key to success.

www.jamesmcbride.com.au

Photography

Veeral Patel

A native New Zealander, Veeral is a Melbourne based interiors and architectural photographer. His work is both inventive and original, deliberately leveraging shadow play and embracing darkness to create cinematic scenes.

www.veeral.com.au