House in Erskineville

Architect George
Australia

A home that may intimately house one, and at other times a family of five.
House in Erskineville balances the retention of an existing 1880s, 3.6-metre wide terrace with experimental new insertions. The project’s spatial planning critiques the typical terrace housing typology and welcomes radical planning to create a home which consists of a series of connected and flexible spaces.

Our sustainable approach for this project is doing more with less, reusing a site, materials, and better using an existing connected place. The initial approach to the project examined ways in which to retain as much structure and fabric as possible.

Designed as an enfilade, the plan presents an interconnected group of rooms arranged in a row, with each room opening into the next. At times, our client lives on their own, and at other times their four children dwell in the home. Rather than providing a three to four bedroom home, the interior planning creates a residence that can be inhabited in multiple ways. Velvet curtains and sliding panels close off ‘rooms’ from others when needed. At all other times, the home is essentially a single room with a central axis down the middle and occupied spaces at the edges.

Photography: Clinton Weaver