Core77

Old House, Melbourne Australia

By Glen Taylor - March 7, 2007

in Object Culture

I Just returned from Australia and while in Melbourne saw this recently completed residential property in the back streets of the inner suburb Richmond. Jackson Clements Burrows Architects responded to the difficult and often costly heritage protection laws with a superimposed 1:1 scale photo of the original dwelling onto a glass facade. Exploring the notion of virtual memory, the tree in the background lines up perfectly with the photo when you stand in the right spot, the neighbors fence works from any angle like a renaissance portrait where the eyes follow you around the room and the unexpected choice of glass actually helps to diminish the physical presence of the building reflecting the sky and surrounding street scape.

The architects felt the existing run down weatherboard cottage held little heritage significance yet the local council defended its value. This ironic solution met the heritage controls requirements and makes a comment on the difficulties of the approval process.

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bubbabuddha

16 years ago

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howard roark would have loved it.
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ged

16 years ago

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The whole point of Architecture is to make a statement. Anyone can do the same old stuff. What is considered a statement today will be considered innovative design in the future. I think its a fantastic and novel way to think outside the box that many average architects out there would have never thought of doing.
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p franke

17 years ago

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That's one interesting way to remodel the house. "Honey can we get new siding?" no just get yourself a glass house. didn't they always say something about throwing stones near houses of glass?
Oh yeah you spelled Australia wrong in the first sentence.
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fdavid

17 years ago

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Great entry. Rarelly do I see a post on this site stir so much debate and interesting points of view. Fantastic!
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Johnson

17 years ago

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This obviously would have been a lot better with some nice siding- or maybe brick. Definitely not with the old photo of the house on it though. Architecture should never be a statement- film, music, products, and paintings can make statements but NEVER architecture.
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MarkChai

17 years ago

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I laughed out loud when I figured out what the heck was going on here. It's clever and tacky all at once, and actually a little spooky to have the "ghost" of this old house sitting there in front of you, but not really. I give it points for originality. Brings new meaning to the word facade for sure. Interesting choice of night lighting (see pics in the link posted by JP). I don't think I'd like having a spotlight shining on my face when I open the front door.
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squee.gee

17 years ago

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This is an interesting solution for a new development to preserve the history of it's site, you certainly wouldn't want to see row of these or even a single repeat in the same neighborhood but done once, it's a clever way to turn an otherwise bland property into a destination and maybe has helped to raise the debate of what exactly preserving our heritage means. Aesthetically, it's highly contemporary so it's not going to please everybody's taste but having seen the building in person, it does blend in with the surrounding street and is a much more sophisticated design then most modern developments.
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wellfellow

17 years ago

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Good call. This is atrocious. No wonder designers aren't taken very seriously. Ugh. They should attach one of those retractable balconies to this.
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Savage

17 years ago

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This looks great. What a good way to get around historical zones that halt progression.
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Neil O'Connell

17 years ago

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That is appalling. Architecture as 'comment'! It's no wonder we have such difficulty arguing for modern design when you see this kind of 'in your face' sarcasm. Awful.
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alex g

17 years ago

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wow... this is slick. are there more pics somewhere?

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JP

17 years ago

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More High-res images here

http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=713

(look at the bottom for the high res versions)
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Jackson

17 years ago

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This looks fake as hell.
Got some more photos that don't look so much like slapped-together photoshop jobs?
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