In Melbourne, a Radical Skylight Sutures a Heritage Home to an Addition With a Courtyard

August 03, 2022

In Melbourne, a Radical Skylight Sutures a Heritage Home to an Addition With a Courtyard

The skylight contours the original brick home, creating a natural connection with the terra-cotta–clad extension.

Project Details:

Location: Clifton Hill, Australia

Architect: Wellard Architects

Structural Engineer: Clive Steel Partners

Landscape Design: Florian Wild

Footprint: 3,300 square feet

From the Architects: "This project involved substantial alterations and additions to an existing heritage-listed home in the inner-city Melbourne suburb of Clifton Hill. As avid entertainers, the family sought to balance a high degree of privacy and refuge while providing the ability to completely open up, warmly welcoming family, friends, and locals dropping by.

"The face-pressed red brickwork of the existing house was in excellent condition, and we wanted to tie this in with our extension. The choice of terra-cotta shingles seemed to represent our ideas for a new form sitting comfortably next to this intact heritage fabric; it is both a familiar material and something quite new and unexpected.

"A window demarcates the original building fabric and our new addition and allows for light and shadow play to alter the interior spaces of the building throughout the day at both ground and first floor levels. Our client’s passion for art with an ever-growing collection of paintings and sculptures saw the need for extensive and uninterrupted wall space to exhibit their collection."