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I think one of the motivators was to have a lot of fun with the space and for it to feel
in a way otherworldly, like not something you would expect at all in this location.
My name is Matiya Marovich, I'm the director at Sans-Arc Studio,
and this is the Plaster Fun House.
We're on Kaurna Land, as most of the suburbs in Adelaide are,
Torrensville is an inner-city suburb in Adelaide in the inner-west,
with a high migrant population, a lot of Greeks and Italians that lived here over the years.
So the clients came to us with a fairly interesting brief for this project, so they
wanted an extension, something that was small and humble but essentially built for entertaining and
something that opened up the rear of the house. To be inspired by P&O and art deco architecture.
Something that was contrasting and a little different to the area,
not necessarily taking inspiration from it, but a bit of an oasis or something
different to the general fabric of the suburb.
So starting at the front door, you walk past two bedrooms
into the living space and then through the arch door behind me,
that is the point at which the new work started but is actually in the old house.
This is a bathroom and laundry to the side, that bulkhead behind me is the original end of
the house, the island bench which comes into the kitchen, and the entertaining area at the back.
The backyard was maintained and we wanted to maintain as much of it as possible, there's
some large trees out there, we wanted to make this little extension feel wrapped in green space and
so all of that comes in with large windows on every side, making that sort of oasis feeling.
The introduction of curves both in plan and in the arch windows was like sort of the next major move.
When you're dealing with a small space like this having softer corners and softer edges is huge,
it makes it feel so much better, so much more open, easy to move through,
you don't knock your hip on things or as you walk past them, and the arch windows and doors
are fun and playful and something that is unique and different for the clients.
So the exterior being a stucco render is again a bit of an, in thought of and inspired by the
migrant housing in the area, but also looks amazing with shadow and light and all the
trees and the light coming through trees and the way it shifts throughout the day.
It's in my opinion a beautifully, timeless material, perhaps previously underappreciated but
something that is so unique, nice to touch and yeah, interacts with its
environment in a really tangible way, I guess than sort of flat surfaces.
The use of colour in the space was interesting for us in that we tried to delineate or
separate zones, and even though it isn't bright, it does have bright elements. In a way I see the
material palette as being quite simple, timber floors, white walls, black steel windows,
but then splashes of colour here and there to create that
sort of sense of identity and something that the clients really connect with.
One of the clients was really keen on us using terrazzo for the benchtops and wherever possible
in the space. The island bench behind me is probably the key design move outside of
the obvious aesthetics of the of the space, so it actually steps down into the dining space,
the material continues but it's at a slightly different height so that people eating and
preparing food can connect between the two spaces, and it ties the old with the new.
The clients themselves are incredibly fashionable and have great taste. The custom joinery unit was
a big part of the project, in that we wanted to have a space, where the clients needed a space
to display all their knick-knacks, and art, and little booze station to make spritzes, a place to
display their things that you know are beautiful to them or are important to them.
The clients wanted another little seating spot, where they could hang out together
while one is cooking or preparing, or you know when you're having antipasti at the start of a
dinner party or something like that. A little gathering space that wasn't a dining space,
so we put this little corner bench in here, which is an amazing spot to read in the sun,
it gets the best light in the house and the choice of having two opening windows
like this means that you can connect to the yard and it's an inside-outside space.
I think the play of light in the yard ties into this oasis feeling and the use of stucco and how
much light is coming into the interior, there's lots of different ways in which the house actually
interacts with its environment and interacts with light and plays with light, and wind is coming
through, and trees are moving, and shadows are moving on the stucco as the sun changes direction.
It's kind of sort of very dynamic and transient which is beautiful and feels incredibly peaceful.
I think the thing that sticks with me the most about this project is the balance of
sculpture and functionality and then the fact that those things also actually contribute to the
use of the space, is really cool as a result the clients have a space that they can, you know, have
for many years to come and entertain and relax and are connected to the yard and it feels like,
something unique and beautiful that they definitely didn't have before.
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