Scaling Up

Focusing on materiality transformed this Melbourne home into a great family-friendly entertainer.

Architect Sarah Bryant is a firm believer that bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better. It’s the ethos of her practice, Bryant Al sop, and this Melbourne home is proof positive that the approach works. The Edward ian house had been extended in the1990s, but the addition was awkward and covered in an unappealing lemoncoloured render. The structure was sound, however, so Sarah and her team took great pains to consider what could be retained and reused.

It was important to the gregarious, community-minded owners, a couple with two school-age children, that the house be suited to entertaining. Their biggest frustration was an odd mezzanine level that impacted the ceiling height of the kitchen below. Sarah’s plan was to open up and reconfigure the existing layout to create more room for guests to mingle.

Removing the mezzanine opened the space up and allowed for the inclusion of a double-height window for views to the garden. The result is an expansive, open-plan environment with robust, semiindustrial appeal. “The owners wanted a home that felt warm and solid, featuring brick, concrete and timber – nothing delicate,” says Sarah. “This is a place for real family living.”

The materials palette is the star of the kitchen. The over sized island bench is made from Bowral Bricks dry-pressed bricks in Capitol Red and topped with concrete. The splashback, in geometric feature tiles by Patricia Urquio la, and surrounding joinery, in blackbutt veneer and black laminate, complement the island beautifully. Nearby, a large, deep window creates a servery to the adjacent deck; this new relationship with the garden is one the family has wholeheartedly embraced.

At 260 square metres, the home is relatively compact. But thanks to Sarah’s design tweaks, it looks and feels generous. “Houses don’t need to be huge, they just need to be well designed. It’s so important top reserve outdoor spaces–and that means not building up to 80 per cent of the block as some regulations allow.”

“The owners wanted a home that felt warm and solid, featuring brick, concrete and timber – nothing delicate. This is a place for real family living.” Sarah Bryant, architect

80 KITCHEN Patricia Urquiola ‘Tierras’ splashback tiles, Urban Edge Ceramics. Stools, AJAR Furniture & Design. Spotted-gum floorboards, Connollys. Trusses made from reclaimed forest gum. Linear pendant, Masson for Light. Brodware tapware, E&S. Island benchtop, Rutso Concreting. Rear joinery in Navurban Byron Blackbutt Veneer, New Age Veneers. Black joinery in Woodmatt laminate from Polytec. Walls painted Dulux White Polar Quarter.

DECK This page and opposite The servery opens directly from the kitchen and is used regularly for meals when the kids are playing outside. Stools and chair, all AJAR Furniture & Design. Charred-timber cladding, Eco Timber Group. Spotted-gum decking. For Where to Buy, see page 176.