Koco House by Powell and Glenn
Location: Melbourne
Status: Completed

A grand, freestanding Victorian terrace with Italianate tendencies, long coveted and admired, is stripped back to its purest form and revived.

The proportions and rhythms of the original terrace flow into a contemporary language. The refined proportions of the front of the terrace seemingly break down and fall away into a new compound complete with a series of garden spaces.

Added to the structure are two new buildings, a kitchen connecting the original structure to a new compound. Rather than the structure sitting in the middle of the block, with a garden at front and back, the new design sees a series of gardens work to obscure any sense of front and back.

Outdoor areas gently reference the original terrace through columns, fireplaces and timber linings. Two feature walls across the width of the new compound, with cut-out spaces, frame a magnificent lemon-scented gum.

Whilst carefully restored in parts, the design plays with ideas of the backyard, boundary lines, inside and out – where the house stops, where the garden starts.

more. www.powellandglenn.com.au