Affordable +

Affordable + reassembles a dilapidated inner-city Melbourne factory into a home with studios for an artist and musician, on a site opposite a suburban train station. The original brick building was an integral part of its urban neighbourhood but had deteriorated beyond reasonable repair. After testing options for retaining the existing structure, the practice chose to partly demolish and rebuild the brick shell in its original form, using bricks salvaged on site.

A new first-floor bedroom wing sits above the living area as a lightweight structure on a steel frame. The studios were built as commercial spaces to reduce construction cost. The former stable, later a print factory, was bought with the intention of converting it, but careful investigation showed the fabric could not be saved by reasonable means, nor could a conversion meet the required energy efficiency and thermal performance. Rebuilding allowed the new dwelling to reach a good thermal standard while keeping the tactile, aged character of the original. Sections of external wall and roof trusses, non-compliant under current structural codes, were retained, reinforced and folded into the design. Unfinished, non-precious materials create an environment that is easy to live in and maintain.

Project size 196 m2 on a 256 m2 site, across two levels, completed 2016.

Design architect: Steffen Welsch, Steffen Welsch Architects. Photography by Wolf-Peter Steinheisser.