London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

A Dark Suburban Home in Melbourne Becomes a Verdant, Light-Filled Refuge

A Dark Suburban Home in Melbourne Becomes a Verdant, Light-Filled Refuge

Architecture studio DREAMER revives a century-old dwelling with an addition that optimizes indoor/outdoor flow.

When a nurse in Melbourne decided to rework her home in the inner-suburban neighborhood of Ascot Vale, she approached local architecture studio DREAMER. "As a frontline medical worker often required to work nights, the client hoped for a nature-filled retreat capable of hosting large gatherings of extended family and friends, while still providing moments of restorative seclusion," states DREAMER’s founder, Benjamin Shields.



A building application was approved for a two-story addition before a fire destroyed the rear of the home, expediting the renovation process of the circa-1900 dwelling. As it stood, the home was poorly insulated, didn’t connect to the backyard, and had dark interiors-elements that weren’t remedied by a 1990s renovation. The new rear addition addresses those shortcomings while providing views from each of its rooms.

"It’s a simpatico relationship," says Shields. "It’s harmonious but the new and old parts of the building are very distinct. The addition offers a completely different interior spatial experience as it uses plywood timber internally, rather than hard plaster."



To create the new addition, changes made during the ’90s were knocked down, and so was a small section of the original house. But it was important to the client and the architect to preserve the heritage elements of the building. "We were looking for ways to preserve as much of the existing home as we could-this led to the idea of a ‘memory’ of the old house being preserved." As a result, it was decided to leave a section of the wall in the courtyard as a seat, and to recycle the bricks for use in the paving.



The addition connects to the existing home via the main hallway. It also features a new kitchen and a living and dining area on the ground level, and a primary bedroom on the first floor. A large granite benchtop extends from the kitchen into the living space, creating a breakfast bar with views to the backyard. There, the client enjoys their morning coffee ritual.

Externally, the addition is clad with corrugated metal, a material choice that responds to the sheet metal used for fencing and roofing in the neighboring alley. "It helps the addition to feel like it is part of the laneway condition, rather than the front street," says Shields.



It was an essential part of the brief that the interior overlooked green spaces-and avoided peering into neighboring homes. So DREAMER arranged the addition to overlook the home’s backyard and a small, strategically placed courtyard; a refurbished bathroom and laundry in the original part of the home provides similar views. To further provide privacy to the neighbors—a codified planning restriction when it comes to Victorians-a steel sunshade was installed at ground level. The shade doubly manages interior temperatures of the home.



On the second level, a fully native green roof leads off the primary bedroom to create a private terrace planted with a grassy flower garden. "[The garden] is my favorite part of the project," says Shields. "It’s a very special place-it’s lush, quiet, and there’s a view over the native plants to the neighboring roofs. The client is also really starting to make the project her own through planting-we love it when we visit!"



Terrace House 1 Ground Floor



Terrace House 1 First Floor



Terrace House 1 Site Plan

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×