Project: True North House
Architects: Tandem
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Photographs by: John Gollings
True North House by Tandem
Tandem, a Melbourne-based studio, have designed the True North House in the Kensington neighborhood of Melbourne. This home is very unique, starting from its exterior, it is full of creative solutions all the way to the interiors. First of all, its corrugated metal exterior is curved and the house takes on an unusual shape because it is located on a triangular plot that was occupied by a worn out 1950s cottage with a stable.
The stable was renovated and now it has become a one-bedroom townhouse while the house was replaced by a three-bedroom residence with a triangular form that makes the most out of the irregularly shaped site.
Architecture offers another approach, that sets aside other buildings, creating a glimpse into an alternative world that is at once seductive and utterly compelling.
This long tapering triangular corner site in Kensington has an historic stables built in the 1880s, located along a disused lane and a new, curvilinear three bedroom house.
True North was featured on Grand Designs Australia in June 2017.
The new dwelling is high performance solar passive 7.3 star rated house with living on the ground floor and sleeping above.
The open corner block is wide enough to accommodate two rooms and a corridor on the western boundary, narrowing to a single room towards the east. Rounding the ends of the triangular form set in play a language of soft, curving elements that extend and enfold space in and around the building.
The custom made zig-zag folded metal facade creates a continuous, curving pleat pinned together over the front door. The curving form is visually dynamic, appearing to be always in motion. The pleats are punctured by rusted metal hoods that frame views from the upper level bedrooms into the neighbourhood.
Placed in the centre of the block, the facade undulates and bends to create north facing pocket gardens, rear produce garden and to encourage light to enter neighbouring rear yards.
The lower level is for living, containing living, dining & kitchen spaces while the upper level is sleeping, accommodating bedrooms and bathrooms.
Low height walls from reclaimed brick ground the floating form, connecting the building to the heritage listed brick stables.
The new dwelling claims the corner, rounding in a continuous organic form that deliberately confuses the reading of front, side and back.
At the rear of the block, the double brick stables were stabilized by a cross braced timber internal structure and restored as a one bedroom townhouse.
Dilapidated and neglected, the existing brickwork was pinned to a heavy weight timber framed internal framework supported off a new internal concrete ring beam and infill slab. The original brick floor was relayed and upper level timber framed loft floor re-finished.
