That is the story of a home that’s not rectangular. Thought-about towards the host of minimalist and reductive – and resolutely rectilinear – approaches to modern residential structure favoured by many practices and their shoppers, Merri Creek Home stands out by advantage of its daring geometry and creative formal assemblage. There are drums and curves aplenty on this home, and even the odd paddle-pop element (extra on that later). By resorting to those gestures and gadgets, the designers have instigated the emergence of an structure that performs positively with its Fitzroy North context. In reality, they’ve taken the contextual referents discovered within the inner-city Melbourne neighbourhood to a brand new excessive – one which by no means fairly borders on caricature, though maybe it comes shut.
Wowowa Structure likes previous issues present in nation cities and cites the ever-present water tower seen in lots of rural settlements as certainly one of its main cues for the types and shapes in Merri Creek Home. These constructions, often completed in brick and metal, have typically been lovingly fabricated, and embrace myriad small particulars and thrives. For causes which will stay shrouded in thriller, Wowowa has taken this reference and incarnated its iconic form in three brick drums that anchor the type of the home. Curves in brick are additionally evident in different homes within the surrounding streetscape, giving additional contextual grounding to the gesture.
The plan weaves between three circles: one on the entrance, one within the center and one solely partially manifested on the rear. The entrance circle resolves right into a double-level drum containing a sitting room on the decrease stage and a research on the higher stage. One arrives on the dwelling simply previous this preliminary brick tower, to slide into the plan partway down the block; to the rapid left of the entry is the second drum, which is a dramatic double-height quantity containing the home’s single curving stair. The balustrade is playfully completed as a sequence of palings with friendly-looking “paddle-pop” tops, introducing extra curves into the visible combine.
From the entry, the customer is given a vista proper by the plan, which meanders between the three anchoring circles. The rear wall of glass going through the yard is partially seen from the purpose of entry, however the plan’s abundance of curves and corners implies that a journey from entry to rear is certainly one of discovery and gradual revelation. Hidden surprises are revealed, as one discovers the totally different private and non-private areas of the home.
On the very rear of the dwelling is the ultimate drum – this one is barely partially resolved or, within the phrases of my information, Scott Woodward of Wowowa Structure, “deconstructed.” One assumes that “deconstructed” refers back to the drum’s barely unfinished, and even romantically faux-ruinous, state – maybe it could possibly be the remnant of one thing that was in truth by no means constructed within the first place. Extra of a half-drum, this manner is open on the northern aspect, and a excessive, curving window in its flank frames a view of a pleasant flowering tree in a neighbour’s yard, unashamedly borrowing surroundings to make a pleasing inner vista.
Upstairs (by way of the round stair), the plan is split in two. One aspect, going through the road, comprises the research and the “garage-top” drinks terrace, a nod to a pleasant suburban establishment seen elsewhere alongside the road. The rear half of the plan is dedicated to vibrant and modestly sized bedrooms and bathing areas; this isn’t a home of extreme, or extra, house. In reality, the formal heroics of the structure pair fairly effectively with a modest general scale, in a time-honoured style. In spite of everything, how typically can we go to architectural icons and discover them to be smaller than we had imagined? Merri Creek Home sits in good firm on this regard.
As the biggest fee that Wowowa Structure had undertaken on the time of its inception, this home has the character of a proper experiment, albeit one executed with the enthusiastic participation of a prepared shopper household. The result’s one thing humane, not too severe, and possessing an abundance of “good vibes.” As I left the home, I thanked one of many homeowners for his or her generosity in sharing their home with me. “My pleasure,” she mentioned. “It’s a home that likes to be shared.”