Bild Architects created the Blurred Property in Melbourne, Australia.
Description from Bild Architects
The initial in a series of studies into the adaptation of vernacular Australian suburban typologies, ‘Blurred House’ is a key renovation and extension to an original 1930’s Californian bungalow in Melbourne’s inner-north. Reacting to the established convention of jarring juxtaposition of current ‘old’ and introduced ‘new’ architectural components the ‘Blurred House’ offers an alternative proposition that of a blurring amongst ‘old’ and ‘new’ to produce a hybrid. Steadily transitioning from the vernacular to the modern, the division of architectural elements are deliberately ambiguous, generating a distinctive formal and visual language.
Viewed from the street, the property seems largely unchanged, with a tiny clerestory window the only hint of reconfiguration. Each internally and externally moving through the home, new supplies, spatial characters and formal language is progressively introduced. By the time of arrival in the back yard, the home has evolved into a distinct creating no longer recognizable from its original starting point an architectural ‘rabbit in a hat’.
Reflecting the formal technique of transition, rooms at the front of the property are left largely unadulterated, remaining far more enclosed. On the other hand, living spaces to the rear are progressively more open and interconnected embracing the garden and pool regions. These varied spaces respond to distinct ‘modes’ of living, with distinct volumetric, acoustic, and light qualities. Whilst these spaces are linked to a higher or lesser degree, they are not ‘open plan’ in a standard sense, rather configured in a more nuanced distribution of distinct spaces and functions.
A hybrid of both old and new, oscillating amongst the past and present, the developing sits comfortably in the street scape as one thing familiar yet alien. Distinct from both the area’s new housing and the original suburban fabric the ‘Blurred House’ is neither little red riding hood or the large negative wolf, someplace in between.
Architecture: Bild ArchitectsPhotography: TM Photo