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Celerity

(43,548 posts) Thu Sep 28, 2023, 11:14 AM Sep 2023

Studio Bright wraps extension in Melbourne, Australia with pale pink breeze blocks

https://www.dezeen.com/2023/09/24/studio-bright-garden-tower-house-extension-australia/

Architecture practice Studio Bright used patterned breeze blocks to wrap Garden Tower House, an extension in Australia, which peeks out from behind the restored frontage of a workers' cottage. Located in the Melbourne suburb of Cremorne, the project was a response to "unsustainable sprawl" in the area, looking to maximise the awkward, narrow site of the existing home rather than expanding outwards.

"The challenge in Australia for our cities to become more sustainable is that they need to work harder for us – we need to increase the density," said Studio Bright director Melissa Bright. "We don't see this as a negative; we wonder how we might live closer together and get more from it," she told Dezeen.

"Often disused laneways are seen as security problems – we see them as an opportunity, for a borrowed backyard, for a place to connect with neighbours and for a new address and frontage," added Bright. "Even these small spaces can be seen as small urban 'places' that we can enliven with activation and care."

The extension comprises two blocks that step down slightly at the rear of the existing home, containing a large living, dining and kitchen space that wraps a central garden. In the larger "tower" volume, an upper storey contains a bedroom with a large, deep-set window overlooking the central garden.

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