A great home extension should not look or feel like an extension. It should be desirable and integral to the home, as if it has always been there, which is why it can be so challenging to design.
Read the house, not the brief
Before putting pen to paper, an architect should invest time reading the house. Understanding the roof pitch and eave depth is essential, as is noting the pattern of the windows to the front facade – are they regular or irregular in their placement, grouped or offset?
Victorian and Edwardian architecture, of which we are incredibly blessed to have such a large proportion in beautiful condition in Melbourne, tends to exhibit a particular architectural grammar. The windows, for instance, will have a particular ratio in their proportions, and particular detailing on the surrounds.
There will be a particular interpretation of the join between the brickwork and the ground, and another particular detail at the join between the brick and the eaves, with a pattern to the brick itself below the eaves. In observing this, you may not realise it, but there is a set of regular patterns that tie all of these seemingly disparate elements together.
Any extension that butts onto the side of the house and fails to heed these patterns will always look like an addition, no matter how well designed. In fact, the existing building will always tell you what it wants.
Scale and massing matter too, and that goes beyond the frontage. If, for instance, the ridge of the roof on your proposed addition is higher than that on the existing house, or it is significantly broader, it will always dominate. By pushing the volume of the addition in or back, you allow the existing home to retain its visual dominance, which is a good thing.
According to realtor.com’s 2019 Curb Appeal Report, homes with appealing exteriors could expect to fetch seven percent more than comparable homes in the vicinity with less well-designed finishes, so this is not just an aesthetic consideration.
Make material choices that are sympathetic, not identical
It is surprisingly easy to make a material mistake when it comes to an addition. Someone may, for instance, invest a small fortune in trying to source brick to match a beloved existing facade. New brick will rarely match old in both colour and texture, and mortar will also weather over time. In trying to make everything appear as it has always been there, you may unintentionally draw attention to the differences.
Instead, consider sympathetic contrast – other materials that will complement the existing building form and colour palette without pretending to be their older sibling. The addition could take inspiration from the existing materials in terms of tone, but use timber cladding or render instead of brick. Alternatively, it could use similar materials but in a different scale.
Once again, thinking about proportion and massing will help you to make material decisions.
Respect the roofline, or make a feature of the break
The roof is the linchpin of any architectural composition, and extensions are no different. For home extensions melbourne projects, that relationship can be especially important where period homes set a strong architectural context. To make your addition feel completely integrated and unquestionably part of the existing structure, consider making the rafter height and roof pitch the same to the line of the eaves on the existing roof.
A second, equally viable option is to make the junction between the two buildings visibly obvious but beautiful – a glazed link between the two, or a flat roof addition with a parapet will achieve this successfully. Avoid, at all costs, trying to make the addition feel like it has always been there by using a roof pitch that is almost the same but not quite – this will always feel ‘off’.
Carry the detailing through to the inside
While the outside of a new addition will undoubtedly receive the lion’s share of attention from your agent or future buyers and tenants, an addition is actually a very ‘internal’ type of renovation. Located between existing rooms or on a smaller scale to the existing volume of the house, the extension is more a matter of style and expression from the point of view of the street and the fence. While you may need to be sensitive to the scale and architectural character of the existing home as it sits within the street, the thing that is likely to fill you with the most joy as you begin to design this addition is the fantastic potential for the interior of this beautiful period home to inspire you. A period villa has strong bones and typically does most of the architectural design for you. Windows, ceilings, and roof pitch all serve their purpose, leaving room for the interior designer to intervene. As such, the interior of the addition, with its fabulous opportunities for light and space, is actually the least ‘design intensive’ of all the opportunities that an addition presents.
In terms of transitions, while the interiors will have their own opportunities to reflect the existing character of the house, the join between the two buildings’ interiors is an important consideration. Levels to floorboards should be identical where practical, and the existing skirting boards and ceiling planes should be carried through or meet their counterparts in the addition at easily definable and visually pleasing steps.
The openings to windows should carry the same weight as the openings to the addition windows. The addition windows themselves should reflect the existing windows in terms of framing details and proportions, and should follow the same pattern as existing windows around the home. Larger openings, rooflights, and glass doors are best saved for the side and rear elevations, where they will frame wonderful views to the garden without overpowering the delicate character of the front elevation of the existing villa. The climate in Melbourne provides us with a wonderful excuse to think about eaves depth, glazing, and orientation. The same cannot be said for the opportunity to retrofit shade in the future, so it should be considered early in the process.
Landscaping could also play its part in disguising a join between the addition and the existing building – a pergola or some well-placed planting could soften the transition.
None of this means that you need to copy the house – it means that you should understand it. Only by developing a sound knowledge of the house’s stylistic rules can you begin to think about breaking them, and it is in breaking them that you begin to create something truly special.
