Luff Residence | Pohio Adams Architects

The commission to design a new family home for clients posed a number of challenges and possibilities. The site was unusually large for the area having never been subdivided like its neighbours, but came with a run down worker’s cottage, that had to remain due to Council Heritage Controls despite plastic weatherboard cladding and an assortment of aluminium windows. The brief was for an adaptable family home that had to create intrigue and a little drama for clients who entertain regularly. The final design utilized the falling topography of the site to make a substantial, and overtly modern addition recede behind the rebuilt cottage that addressed the street. The contrasts between the structures were aesthetic, and material, with the new addition being constructed from concrete, glazed black brickwork, and steel. Circulation through the house meanders with the site, courtyards separating the cottage from the new addition, and around an existing Jacaranda tree allow varied sight lines and play up the luxury of space afforded by the large site size, and frames wider views into the surrounding district. The drama and hardness of the concrete, brick, steel, and glass found in the main living and entertaining spaces softens considerably upstairs where the private spaces play up the warmth of limed oak and more playful colours particularly in the children’s rooms. Privacy, and energy efficiency are provided by the external adjustable louvres on the building exterior which also provide an aesthetic link back to the horizontal weatherboards of the original cottage.