Caroline House in Melbourne by Kennedy Nolan

Some architecture practices are just reliably good; they seem to create a little bit of magic in everything they do. In an age where magazines, the internet and social media are flooded with design outcomes moving into a unified, homogenised aesthetic, it is rare to come across a project that makes me look twice, or fifty-four times for that matter. A project layered with richness, soul and inimitable personality, that isn’t afraid to offer a new take on residential architecture and to stand for something; at the same time maintaining a broad appeal that doesn’t alienate those who prefer their homes served with a bland dose of beige.

This, my friends, is a true testament to the talent of Kennedy Nolan, the Melbourne-based architecture practice that’s celebrating 20 incredible years in business (and who we were lucky to speak to a few weeks back). Their Caroline House is an alteration and addition to a weatherboard Edwardian house in inner Melbourne, which recently picked up a bunch of accolades, like the Victorian Architecture Awards’ top gong for Residential Architecture. While most ‘Alts & Ads’ projects (that’s frequently used shop-talk for ‘Alterations and Additions’ to the non-architects amongst us – you’re welcome) are typically plagued with a bunch of existing limitations that can get in the way of big-picture creative thinking, this was clearly not the case here.

The rear of the early-1900s south-facing house had a generous garden. “We restored and re-imagined the existing house and added a pavilion which is separated from the original building by an internal courtyard containing a swimming pool,” said Kennedy Nolan. The major stroke of genius lies in this project’s ability to break with the convention of backyard extensions. Both a sense of formality and whimsy permeate the entire project, described by the architects as an “eccentric formal quality” that offers a balanced relationship between garden and interior space, further heightened through a sophisticated attitude to texture, colour and pattern.

The Client was after an expressive, engaging and memorable family home, with the most fundamental element of their brief being the swimming pool. “The challenge of integrating swimming pools into domestic environments increases every year with new regulations which break down the immediacy of proximity to water,” explained Kennedy Nolan, who cleverly designed a centralised pool that incorporates a gate in the facade of the building. “The pool deliberately challenges regular notions – it is round, it is compact, it is deep, it is dark,” said the architects.

The pool is imagined for year-round use, with shimmering reflections animating the facade in winter. The immediate proximity of water to the interior has a dramatic effect too, creating an illusion that the edge of the building plunges into a deep pool. “These effects are deliberate and aspire to create a setting which is poetic and evocative without being specific – an environment redolent of things in our city and in our imagination,” said the design team.

Despite the expressive design approach, functional aspects were not compromised by the playful forms. The courtyard fulfils the conventional requirements of passive solar design, with the inclusion of a swimming pool only augmenting its function beyond a decorative presence, by providing evaporative cooling effects in summer.

“The principle curved wall allows for a layered and nuanced interior and a dramatic and compelling exterior space,” said Kennedy Nolan. An expert, cohesive approach to the interiors links the rooms of the existing house to those in the new extension, creating a seamless narrative with plenty of moments of delight and discovery within a singular aesthetic.

I’m 100% sold.

See more projects from Kennedy Nolan on Yellowtrace here.