Brook

Brook is a compact, heritage-listed Victorian cottage in Hawthorn that is far more generous inside than its modest street presence suggests. Bryant Alsop reworked the cottage and its 1970s additions around three ideas: creating light, depth and a sense of space by introducing very dark internal elements, planning a flexible floorplan to suit a range of occupants, and re-using the existing structure and services to cut waste and cost.

The defining move is a near-black boundary wall that runs for more than 16 metres, snaking across cabinetry, wrapping an internal bathroom and continuing into the main bedroom. This strong tonal element acts as an anchor for the surrounding rooms and lends depth and a sense of journey to what is otherwise a small house. Against it, contrasting textures and colours are free to bounce: grass green carpet in the main bedroom, orange dotty tiles in the main bathroom and an aquamarine front door give the sophisticated palette a playful edge.

Highly efficient planning keeps circulation to a minimum, with only a short section of the original Victorian hallway retained. Single-use spaces have been pared back, so a two-way laundry doubles as secondary kitchen space. The layout is designed to flex with a growing family and can later accommodate a first-floor addition, or suit couples, down-sizers or single occupants on resale.

The design is rooted in structural and economic efficiency. The 1970s addition was retained in full, with its floor, walls, roof and ceiling structure kept in place. A low 2.4 metre ceiling, modest by contemporary standards for a main living space, has been turned to advantage: sheeted in a standard fibre-cement external cladding for texture, it frames the dark wall and lets the compressed spaces work against it.

Project size 134 m2. Completed 2014.

Architect: Bryant Alsop. Photography: Rhiannon Slatter.