There's so much to be gained from layering of spaces, making them more compact but
also generous in their nature. No one feels like they're on top of each other,
there's respect given to each of the occupants and space to be.
My name is Jacqueline O'Brien, I'm a co-director of Placement and we were
the architects of Parkville House. The home is located in Parkville,
which is an inner city suburb very close to the CBD, it's bookended by beautiful parkland,
the residential areas are predominately period homes with tree-lined streets. The house is a
Victorian Terrace in a group of nine, they've got beautiful street presence on the front,
these balconies and lace work and from the balconies you get a view of the the trees
across to the parkland. The brief of the project was to work within the existing volume of the home
and to prioritise better light and backyard and outdoor access. The clients really valued not
having an open planned home, their children now are teenagers they don't need those sight lines
for observation anymore. This plan lent itself to being a bit more intimate and considered.
Stepping through the front door you come into this relatively modest hallway space, it's quite light
and bright considering the scale of the space. As you turn into the first living room that's
really soft blue and calming. It operates in a few different modes, there's a desk that folds
out and then there's also a TV unit hidden behind the cabinetry with an Xbox attached. Beyond the
hallway we enter the kitchen, it's a space that's incredibly hardworking, it's a major thoroughfare
this kitchen it's central, so you experience the island throughout. The new kitchen window
allows some beautiful Northern light to penetrate into quite a narrow part of the plan. Over time
this window will look out onto a really lovely kitchen garden. On the other side is a large
bank of joinery, we've got a bar, a pantry, a fridge and a full laundry and linen cupboard.
Beyond the kitchen we walk into the dining space, which is structured around a really
large banquette. It offers flexibility to the family whether it's an intimate family
dinner or if they're hosting a big group. In this space there's also a beautiful fire hearth that
mirrors some of the relationships and language materially from the previous formal living
spaces at the front of the house. Here located is also a record station to create a vibe for
the family and you know help entertaining. With the palettes we've really played off
on that Victorian moodiness that's typical of this era of home. Some spaces are incredibly
dark like the main bedroom, it has a natural low light so instead of trying to fight that
we've really leant into that darkness. The main bedroom ensuite is very moody,
it's quite small but it packs a punch in terms of its colour and palette. Here we start to play with
a lot more of those Victorian Heritage elements with curved mirror and beautiful red brick tiles.
Upstairs we've got the main lounge room space, this is a place for the teenage children to kick
back and relax and sit out on the balcony and perhaps look out into the parkland.
The children's rooms are also upstairs, the feeling of these places is quite calm and soft
the children each also have their own ensuite, these ensuites also have more of a refined,
pulled back palette, a bit lighter and a bit more neutral. The window in the bedroom upstairs
with the built-in desk is a considered edit we made, it cranks open and creates privacy
to the neighbouring apartment complex across the laneway, this allows some really beautiful
soft Northern Light into what have previously been a very dark bedroom. What I'm most proud
about with this home is its ability to work within the existing footprint and its volume,
it's doing a lot with a lot less, the real dumb idea could have been to take off the back half
and start again but we worked with the existing and it's come up beautifully we're really proud.