2024
ArchiMarathon video here.
THE WHAT
Lang 靚 is a new double storey house in South Yarra, Melbourne, that reflects the owners’ vision for “a wellness-enhancing home that is architectural and inspirational.”
The result of exploring “a different sort of mindset,” the design purposely avoids hallways and corridors and instead maximises potential for open space, natural light and greenery, on a relatively small inner-city sized block.
Arranged around three distinct garden zones with large openings, the connections between internal and external spaces are interwoven; providing the inhabitants (a family of four) with an ‘airy calmness’, to pursue the things they love - reading, cooking, socialising and kicking a ball in the backyard.
With the focus on creativity, efficiency and unique storage solutions, Lang celebrates clutter-free living and ‘forever home’ adaptability. Beyond the equitone cladding and fluted glass frontage the internal space is voluminous and bright, with kitchen, dining and living room expanding the full length, while the width incorporates an internal courtyard garden. A soaring and sculptural curved timber ‘tree-trunk’ contains bathrooms above and below, while the entry features a pull-down Murphy bed, concealed storage and privacy curtains, to pivot as a guest bedroom.
Upstairs there is a dedicated laundry and outdoor drying zone, two bedrooms and a bathroom, and a main bedroom, with walk in robe and ensuite. A multipurpose rumpus room occupies the area in between, serving as a playroom for the owner’s two young children, with future potential as a study, teenage hangout or parents’ retreat.
THE BRIEF
The owners provided a thorough and well-researched brief; specific in their goals, aware of the site limitations and encouraging creative solutions and architectural flair. They were “determined” to live in a home without hallways and corridors,” to avoid feeling boxed or compartmentalised and to circumvent poor ventilation and heat retention in summer. They asked for their home to be highly pragmatic and efficient - in energy, cost and use of space, but also to show uniqueness and creativity. To make “something different.”
They wanted multi-functionality, an abundance of natural light and a connection to greenery in every room, as well as a reading nook, concealed study, hidden pantry, lots of storage and a garage (to fit one car and four bicycles). Their suggestions included curved elements, playing with light and shadow, contrasting textures (such as wood and concrete) and creating a void between the two storeys.
The owners summarised their brief in three words: ‘Wellbeing. Efficiency. Inspirational.’
TOUGH ON THE OUTSIDE
Lang’s external structure is deliberately austere and resilient, befitting its location on a residential street just off the busy main thoroughfare of Punt Road. Clad in durable, anti graffiti, heat resistant equitone, the form is rectilinear grey boxes with sharp edges. The equitone sheet is arranged in a chevron pattern, visually striking and tactile, the owners say “people frequently stop to take photos and touch the walls.”
In Chinese and Cantonese, Lang 靚 means ‘pretty’.
DELIBERATIVE DESIGN
Massed on the western side of the site, the house steps down to the east to protect the neighbour’s light and garden. Analysing and assessing exisiting conditions generated much of the form - the intelligent reaction was to concentrate the height and mass against the adjoining neighbouring bulk on boundary. A slight gradient on the site, sloping from back to front, also leant itself to an internal level change that defines the edge of the living area and becomes a perfect seat (45cm high) in the kitchen and garden.
A large fluted glass panel was incorporated into the sheet cement facade, to provide privacy and passive surveillance, whilst allowing for an abundance of natural light. At the rear of the house, the second level (main bedroom) deliberately extends half a metre further out, to provide passive solar shade for the lounge area beneath.
SOFT CENTRE
In contrast to the tough exterior, the interior is softened by natural timber and tonal materials, lush foliage and gentle curves. A soaring and sculptural timber ‘tree-trunk’ contains the bathrooms above and below, linking the two spaces and creating cohesion.
The ground floor area is open plan but subtly nuanced, gently pinched by the bathroom and an internal garden, which is enhanced and magnified with the use of mirror. The garden downstairs is reflected upstairs in the beautiful green ‘Amazon Depths’ (Dulux) colour of the inbuilt cabinetry in the main bedroom.
MAXIMISING SPACE
The owners were originally concerned that their small inner city block wouldn’t be large enough to create the home they envisaged. To maximise the space horizontally and vertically, large windows and openings were used on three sides while a void was created along the fourth wall. A white perforated steel section of stair continues the transparency of the void, allowing for a further increase in air circulation and volume.
With large openings at each end, the garage is an extension of the ground floor space, with budget allocated to the ground material. Rather than a standard slab, concrete sleepers create a flow to extend the courtyard and entertaining area through to the street. A considered extension of space.
DETAIL AND CONSIDERATION
Architectural involvement in any project is typically evidenced in the detail, and certainly at Lang every detail was thoroughly considered. From the circular light fittings veneered in the same timber as the staircase and cabinetry; to the chevron grey tiles in the ensuite which reference the texture, pattern and colour of exterior facade; to the bedroom light fittings custom powered-coated in soft peach, picking up the colour of the bathroom vanity.
There are curved details that add coherence and uniformity, overtly used in the curvature of the timber clad bathroom, the bow of the concrete step, the curtain rail privacy screens and the island bench, and more discreetly in the shape of the shower hand rail and custom cut mirror.
Many of the considerations had logic, such as siting the laundry upstairs, closer to the bedrooms and bathrooms. Where a setback was required on the western boundary we created a small balcony directly off the laundry, ideal for an outdoor clothes line and a place, out of sight, to efficiently stack all the services.
Though deliberately open plan there are two areas within the ground floor layout that can be curtained off to allow for privacy when required - a reading/study corner and guest accomodation with double bed and dedicated storage. Responding to the brief for clutter-free flexibility, a number of elements are secret, concealed or detailed to appear as flush wall panels. In the entry wall there is a secret door to the garage, and also a concealed cupboard for storing coats, shoes and bags. Within the kitchen /living cabinetry, beside the usual integrated white goods, there is a dedicated wine store, an appliances bench and a sizeable study with shelving and inbuilt desk.
Another highly considered detail is the steel support column, brought inside to avoid disrupting the fluted glass window at the front of the house. Appearing more ladder than column by design, it serves an open shelf, for keys and trailing plants.
Upstairs, where the need for bedrooms meant ‘cells’ could not be avoided, the doors are full height, floor to ceiling, to create the sense and feeling of having no corridors.
THE LONG GAME
“Everything is very specific to our preference. We really knew exactly what we did and did not want. To another person’s eyes this might not be the ideal, but for us the functionality and the aesthetic is exactly what we wanted.” - The owners
Architects are often employed to design homes for their clients to live in ‘forever’. To design homes that fulfil the owner’s goals while incorporating foresight and adaptability, to future-proof or to safeguard longterm sale return. At Lang the owners played the long game from inception. Although they had two young children, they avoided any specific, age-centric short-term design concessions. Instead they looked at the big picture and incorporated multi-functionality as a core basic, to ultimately achieve their own personalised, unique home. For (their) ever.
AMA ‘PICK’N’ MIX’
In 2024 Austin Maynard Architects marks 21 years in practice, with an expanding, diverse portfolio that reflects the decades. The intent is to design unique homes specific to each individual client but in the process we have also, inadvertently created the AMA pick’n’mix.
The owners of Lang took, they say, “great care in finding the right architect”, and it was AMA’s “level of detail, originality and playful quirkiness” that most appealed. They revealed they had looked at every photo on our website and picked out their favourite bits. “Like a catalogue,” they say. At Lang, this includes the elevated seat /step (Mills), the concealed study (Garden House) and the internal garden (Newry). “A lot of things we saw on the website, we liked it, then we proposed it on the brief.”
SUSTAINABILITY
An integral part of the client’s brief, and a core principle of AMA, sustainability was a major factor in the design and build of Lang 靚. Fossil-fuel-free/100% electric, a 7kW Photovoltaic solar system is installed on the roof, with a HUAWEI battery and electric car charging provision. The house is oriented to make the most of the northern and eastern sun, warming the polished concrete slab, which acts as a thermal mass, (assisted by hydronic heating coil in the floor) to radiate warmth in the cooler months. Double glazing within thermally broken window frames is installed and north facing windows all have eaves or rotating louvres, to block direct sun reaching the glass in the summer. An external roller blind protects Lang’s only west facing window and rotating louvres and a first floor overhang protect the east facing glass.
Ceiling fans are installed to all the bedrooms and as well as the living space for air-flow without resorting to air-conditioning. Cross ventilation to passively cool the house has been encouraged, with all ground floor windows opening onto garden and windows on the first floor venting the house vertically through the void. All services are located in one spot on an external terrace adjoining the laundry at first floor which also has wall mounted line for air drying clothes.
The home is fitted with LED light fittings and has an energy efficient fridge, oven and induction cooktop. Chemical-free No VOC white paint was used everywhere, and low VOC coatings were used on the timber. Flooring and veneers (used in fixed panelling and cabinetry) are sustainably sourced and certified.
All gardens are permeable surfaces that absorb water within the site. In the front garden a 3,000 litre water tank is buried, harvesting water from the roof to use for flushing toilets and watering gardens. All fittings within the bathrooms, laundry and kitchen are flow restricted to save on usage. A WSUD (water sensitive urban design) process was carried out resulting in a rain water system that filters and restricts the amount of storm water being discharged onto the street.
The highest value insulation available for the structural thickness is employed within the walls and roof, and a ventilated facade system reduces opportunity for condensation build-up and thermally separates warm external finishes from insulated internal walls.
A green roof adjoining the bathroom and southern first floor bedroom provides an additional level of insulation to the ground floor and visual link to garden space on the first floor.
OWNER’S STATEMENT
“We spent effort in finding the right architect. We shortlisted and interviewed and looked at portfolios, and we could really see ourselves living in an AMA designed house. We looked at the level of detail in the interiors and we saw a little bit of playfulness and quirkiness around the interior design.
Our vision was to create a house that addresses wellbeing, efficiency and inspiration and we can definitely say that our vision has been translated into every detail. The house provides us with a sense of calmness being surrounded by natural materials, lots of natural light and views to greenery throughout the house. We were originally concerned that our small inner city block will not be large enough to create a home that we envisaged but now we can say that the design has exceeded our expectations. Originality was really the key. Everything is very specific to our preference and that comes down to the architect’s originality; not just catching a trend or doing what’s fashionable but understanding the client’s unique use of the space and unique aesthetic taste. To another person’s eyes this might not be the ideal layout, but for us the functionality and the aesthetic is exactly what we want. The kids enjoy the many different creative spaces in various ways and adults have spaces to entertain, work and rest. We’re very happy with our home, absolutely.”
Austin Maynard Architects
Total floor area: 254 m2
Builder
Dimpat
Photographer
Tess Kelly