Terrace House | Fringe Architects

Terrace House resides in a group of 3 pairs of Victorian Era row houses that stand at the juncture of the Perth to Fremantle railway line and the Claremont Town Centre. Originally designed to house workers for the nearby Claremont railway station the terraces have remained largely unaltered for over a century. Pragmatic in layout, subdued in detail, with flairs of the ornamental present to the street elevation, the terraces have enjoyed renewed popularity with young couples due to the proximity to the Town Centre.

This restoration + conversion sought to increase the accommodation to three bedrooms with a new living space orientated to a summer courtyard. The new spaces are captured between two zero lot alignment boundary walls which run the full length of the site to Claremont Crescent to the south.

The blade walls collect the various planning elements along the length. The rear entry separated from the tension created by the two walls by a dividing skylight. The linear plan effectively stretched to an abnormal length to create a sense of ‘bigness’. The lot is treated as an interior of its boundaries, the spaces expressed as interior and exterior rooms, with owners able to retreat into the more private realms as a response to Perth’s intense light and temperate climate.

Strata Corporate guidelines insisted that the selected materials should compliment and expand on the palette of the existing terraces through the use of a light, natural palette. The lightness of the palette aids the transference of light, despite south facing glass, to deep within plan.

The new work and extension is clearly delineated from the original detailing through devices such as frameless full height doors, shadowline cornices, low sheen polyurethane paint, continuous floor to ceiling detailing and the use of suspended and cantilevered elements to add a sense of space. The addition respects the scale of the neighbouring terraces, being constructed below the group’s existing eave lines.

There has been a strong adherence to sustainability. Materials such as the joinery have been sourced from plantation timbers, themselves all renewable. The honed limestone tiles are naturally quarried. All paints were selected on the basis of Low VOC content. All water fixtures and appliances are rated 4 stars or better for water usage and energy consumption.

Thermostat controlled underfloor heating has been incorporated into the tiled areas as a low running a cost measure in winter.

All new glazed openings have low emissivity glass to reflect heat from the harsh summer sun as well as radiate heat back into the space during winter.

Passive solar principles such as increased natural day-lighting, enhanced cross ventilation through the openness of the plan to prevailing south western cooling breezes further enhance the life cycle costing of the new spaces.

The total build Cost for the project, including the refurbishment of the original front terrace, was $275,000. The completed house, albeit small at 122sqm of living area, has a sense of spaciousness and comfort that belies the build rate and modest client brief.