Implemented by Whiting Architects original house design called “Kerferd” located in Melbourne, Australia. The house is elegant, getting plenty of natural light to brighten the interior.
The property is a rear addition with a double façade of red Edwardian brick. Slate roof, four main rooms with a central hallway. The new building is essentially a separate home for the parents. Children and guests are housed in the existing building with their own large bathroom.
The design had to reconcile the heights and scale of the old and new sections, seamlessly add a new roof, tie in with the surroundings. And everything has to be rugged and trendy and modern. Going back to the architectural basics, the developers sought to avoid clichéd, overly modernistic, excessive, or primitive.
The new and old buildings were separated in plan to provide a physical boundary between the two buildings. The internal planning is decided in a rational and minimal way, no doors or corridors to reduce unused space while maintaining the conditions to create the most comfortable environment. A small staircase, leading to the low mezzanine, due to the one-story layout, only one.
What might have been a hallway became a personal sitting area next to the master bedroom. A window box housed the deckhouse. Moving into the master bedroom through these spaces does not require a door. Clothes are hidden behind the headboard box. The master bath is accessed behind a functioning prefabricated wall panel equipped with a sliding slide to reveal more interior glazing, giving users the ability to set their desired level of privacy.
This pragmatic building was built as a workshop or barn, conceived out of need, not design requirements. And as with these types of buildings, an aesthetic need demanded its fulfillment. The walls are paneled and secure, the space is only what it should be and no more. Nothing precious, everything is simple and practical. Not a glossy show at all, but it looks just as good as the surrounding buildings.
Open kitchen With a large, wide table is the center of everything. There is an efficient open combustion fireplace, doors opening to the backyard. Usually developers start with the design, then, turn it into a building. It all started here with construction, which, then, was turned into design. All the elements and materials were available: 1930s steel, aluminum double-glazed windows, wood, cladding, grilles, fixtures, fixtures, tile, furniture and art.
The design of the house was done in a more vernacular, intuitive way. Familiar architectural elements were interpreted. The roof gable was designed and broken into sections, the geometry of the windows was conceptualized. The steep pitched roof is rectangular in projection. The only window is too high to look out of. The basic shapes and A simple geometric style interiors. These are not functions peculiar to one local habitat; they are common to the entire county.
Despite this ubiquity, the builders wished to combine these elements in an unusually improved and beautiful composition. Home should be a lesson in pride. And therein lies the challenge.
Wow, I’m really intrigued by the concept of industrial minimalism in the original design of a large house. Could you please elaborate on how this unique design style was incorporated and what were the main features that defined this industrial minimalistic approach?