Image Credit : Martina Gemmola
Project Overview
WOWOWA PONY is an agile alteration and modest addition to a 1960’s apricot brick home.
Our Client’s came to us with open minds just wanting a renovation that suited the house – we leant in hard, and the conversation quickly become about how their personal aesthetic could be brought alive through the design.
As well as providing much needed additional space, there was extensive reconfiguration of the existing internal spaces. The kitchen and part of the original living room was reorientated into an open plan kitchen, dining, central bathroom, and walk-in pantry and two of the children’s rooms were squeezed into the existing rumpus.
The kitchen and living area are truly the heart of the home, spilling out into both the front and the rear wings and connecting out into the garden. From the central living you get views to both the street and the pool.
The new children’s wing provides equal amenity to each child, each room has the same allocation of both storage and study area, with windows overlooking the strip garden to the side of the house.
The adult’s area can be closed off from the rest of the house, when moments of respite, or quiet ‘working from home time’ is required.
Each axis has the capacity to be closed from the next, allowing a separation of the noisy living spaces from quiet ‘adult’ areas and children’s study zones.
Project Commissioner
Client has requested to remain anonymous
Project Creator
Team
Monique Woodward
Jean-Marie Spencer
Project Brief
WOWOWA PONY the hardest working piece of architecture we have done. It is a mutual love letter from our Clients to us and us to our Clients. A true collab.
The design was heavily inspired by our vibrant clients and their energetic family of six. Reflecting their personal aesthetic through form, materiality and colour, the interiors are an accretion of small moments of delight that allow a family to find a quiet moment alone or come together.
Centered on 766m2, the plan was arranged along a double axis - a prominent post-war design driver to increase connection to the garden – creating a front, back and central courtyard. Our design exaggerated the existing axial plan through a clip-on colonnade.
Being near the beach the structural design, cladding and construction methodology for the roof form, was not dissimilar to the construction of a boat, with keel, bow and stern. The ‘keel’ is expressed down the length of the colonnade, like the belly of a whale, with nautical references carried through detailing; brass fittings, porthole windows and timber decking to both ceiling and floor.
The kitchen feels generous with the banana-yellow bench space and seating for all kids. The dessert inspired colour palette draws in the client’s mid-century furniture pieces and the mix of timber species echoes the eclectic art and object collection.
Playful colour combinations were used in the ‘wet areas’, whilst the main bedroom offers a moment of respite incorporating calm tones and materials.
Project Innovation/Need
Though WOWOWA PONY packs a punch, with glorious finishes and details that bring moments of delight throughout the home, the real smarts of the project reside in the joyous union of multi-disciplinary design areas; interior design, architecture and landscape architecture, that culminate in spatial qualities and materiality of the clip-on colonnade.
The hardworking colonnade is the innovation in this design. Not only does it provide connection to the outdoors, two bathrooms and four bedrooms, but it also increases the amenity of the home, without an expanse of additional space. It’s a daybed, a bookshelf, two break out spaces that provide seating for each of the children and a clothes drying room, dispersed throughout and nestled within the undulating form and soft, structural columns.
Design Challenge
PONY worked hard on a tight square meter rate and although it is highly detailed, it succeeded in fitting a lot of program and delight within the modest footprint, this kept the overall cost of works down and allowed for freedom in selection of materials and finishes.
The home provides room for a family of six to grow. Each axis has the capacity to be closed off from the next, allowing a separation of the noisy living spaces from quiet ‘adult’ areas and kid’s study zones. With specific storage provided at every opportunity, everything has a place, washing, toys, books, games, and a dedicated school bag ‘drop-off’ zone make life a little easier.
Sustainability
WOWOWA are BCorp certified. BCorps are companies that put planet and people before profit.
As part of our commitment to being BCorps WOWOWA is committed to a regenerative and environmentally deliberative design process that is collaborative, empathetic and playful. As industry thought leaders, we advocate for broader diversity and more perspectives within our colourful, narrative driven projects that champion co-creation and acknowledge Country.
A ‘community first’ approach is fundamental to our design methodology. We believe each project should respond in a conscious way to the practical, cultural, heritage and environmental qualities of its site. WOWOWA will always seek to incorporate practical sustainable solutions that enhance projects and educate.
The nature of this modest extension addresses sustainability through the minimising of any additional footprint. The robust and durable material palette was selected for family living, play and to stand the test of time.
Passive solar design and passive ventilation, also driven by a desire to connect to the garden, informed the planning of this home that was built to last.
Pony is architecturally ambitious within the project’s tight budget constraints. The energetic design was embraced by courageous clients, celebrates the local context, and enhances the functionality of a busy family home.
Architecture - Residential - Constructed
This award celebrates the design process and product of planning, designing and constructing form, space and ambience that reflect functional, technical, social, and aesthetic considerations. Consideration given for material selection, technology, light and shadow.
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