NIMMO
2020
‘The house is not extended as a single gesture, but split, allowing space, light and programme to be negotiated between parts.’
Nimmo Street begins with a cut. A free standing Edwardian house is split, making space for a new rear condition shaped as much by planning constraint as by domestic ambition.
The existing dwelling is effectively halved, allowing a new footprint to emerge behind it. What was once a modest three bedroom house is recalibrated into a four bedroom family home, with expanded living, kitchen and communal spaces. The project is organised as two brick pavilions, separated by a narrow courtyard, a calibrated slit that runs north south through the plan. This incision operates as both divider and organiser, structuring light, ventilation and movement across the house.
At ground level, the pavilions divide the programme between kitchen and dining to one side, and living to the other. This move resists the default of a singular open room, instead allowing the spaces to remain connected while maintaining a degree of autonomy. Above, the same logic is repeated. The courtyard and stair separate the plan into two distinct wings, a master suite to one side and a children’s zone to the other, establishing privacy through distance rather than enclosure.
A lightweight bridge spans the slit, forming the primary vertical circulation. Constructed from perforated metal, it reads as thin and translucent against the mass of the brick pavilions, allowing light to filter through and reinforcing the sense of a permeable connection between volumes.
Materially, the project operates as a dialogue between restoration and insertion. The front of the house is returned to its Edwardian character, complete with oversized skirting boards and enlarged door frames that amplify its domestic scale. In contrast, the rear pavilions are expressed in brick, their solidity punctuated by a series of precise cuts and insertions. Large precast concrete window elements are set into the masonry, reading as objects placed almost effortlessly within the wall, simultaneously heavy and exacting.
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HOUSE
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WURUNDJERI | MIDDLE PARK, VICTORIA
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STRUCTURAL ENGINEER | ALDANMARK
LIGHTING | DANIEL GIFFIN