House 2-8-8

The finished project resembles an architect’s design parti diagram, recalling the numbered ‘House’ projects of Peter Eisenman, particularly House VI. Sculptural architectural elements—clad in grey timber boards, light timber veneer, terracotta tiles, and terrazzo—assume a diagrammatic appearance due to the concealed detailing of edges, joins, and handles. These elements are separated from one another by shadow gaps, clear space, or areas of frameless glazing. The uninterrupted white ceiling and grid of grey floor tiles provide a visually empty cartesian space within which the rectilinear forms are arranged. The tiled floor continues outside to form a terrace, appearing as a plinth for the composition of other architectural elements when viewed from the garden. In this way, House 2-8-8 is another manifestation of the design approach of the studio, which in every project creates a sculptural composition of architectural elements that capture architectural processes of conception, demolition, and construction. A terracotta blade wall forms the side of the extension and the splashback of the kitchen, while referencing the ridge tiles of the roof of the original building. The sculptural forms of the new architectural composition sit on a plinth of grey tile that forms the garden terrace and the floor of the kitchen-dining space. The grey-stained timber boards visually reference the weathered fence panels in the back garden. The Victorian elements are visually framed from the modern space, and vice versa, as if they are dioramas viewed through apertures. Concealed fixed glazing and minimally-framed glass doors to the rear elevation present views of the back garden and neighboring houses as if they are everyday photography on a gallery wall. Period features of the original building are presented as found-object readymades, framed by or juxtaposed with the modern extension.