Architect Victoria
This project is for a building in a South Melbourne site containing an office and residence. The tightness of the project made necessary a fairly empty shell. This was built for around $98,000 in 1998. The project tested out some cliches of domestic life and the advantages of living in a nonresidential neighbourhood. It engaged seriously the immediate built environment for all its ordinariness and detached itself from petty formal refinements and detail.
The black front (south) facade is flush with the adjacent white workshop, and its parapet aligns with it. It is like an extension to it in negative. The side (west) facade is a blank wall in Maidenhair green as chosen by the neighbour Reg de Winter. The rear facade is largely white polycarbonate stuck to the frame by double-sided tape. A very small window views the Rialto Towers down the rear alley. Site area: 115m2; building area: 140m2; site coverage: 74%; private open space: 30m2. The interior, read through the section, is like a courtyard house with some of the courts filled in, admitting diffuse light from above.
The caretaker’s residence of 115m2 serves as an office/showroom building of 25m2. The disabled toilet represents 18% of the office/showroom area. The house has a bedroom that is 1.8m wide and a skylight only. The interior, read through the plan, reflects a division of space for use which was undecided.
There is no off-street parking, and no residential permit parking. The building should permit change of use, change of decoration, extension or partial demolition very well.
The Age Review – 2004 Written by Beverley Johanson
Architect Graham Crist’s first solo residential project was his own home – a little warehouse in South Melbourne.
Graham Crist studied architecture in Perth and began his career there, but then became “part of the exodus to Melbourne.” “There was a sense, in Perth that Melbourne was where it was all happening.” he says.
Crist travelled east in 1995 to work with Denton Corker Marshall on the Melbourne Museum. Four years later, he teamed up with fellow West Australian, Stuart Harrison whom he had known at university, and they formed Harrison & Crist Architects.
In the meantime, Crist had built his own house, which was also his first solo residential project in Melbourne. He describes it as “a little black warehouse.”
The project was a million miles from the Perth style of building, where there is lots of space in which to spread out, and came with its own set of challenges.
Crist bought a 100-square metre block in what was primarily an industrial part of South Melbourne. He designed a two-storey warehouse-style building right up to the boundary, nestled up against a weatherboard cottage.
“There were all sorts of things we had to deal with there,” he says. “It was a tiny site; the soil was weird; and we were building in an industrial area.”
However, it turned out beautifully and he is still living there. Crist designed the building to create a feeling of space within. In the living area, the ceilings are 6 metres high. “It’s a bit of a Tardis,” he says. “People don’t expect it to be so spacious inside.”
It’s a building that is at once shy and gregarious. To the street, it shows nothing but a black wall and little to suggest that it is a stylish and comfortable home. At the rear, it is creative and sophisticated. The back wall is panels of opaque glass that are white during the day and pearly at night making intriguing shadows of furniture and people. “A bit like a Japanese lantern at night,” says Crist.
Affordable Architecture
Great Houses on a Budget – written by Stephen Crafti
Architect Graham Crist originally built this home 10 years ago. Located in a light-industrial area in South Melbourne, it is surrounded by cafes, workshops and design studios. “I built this house as a home/office. But the family, as well as the office, expanded” he says.
The 105-square-metre site is almost completely covered by the building, which is built to the footpath. On the ground floor is an office, together with a kitchen and living areas. On the first floor are three bedrooms and a bathroom. “ The children needed extra space to play, both indoors and outdoors”, says Crist.
The family was faced with a common dilemma. Do they move to something larger, further out of town, or do they remain in the inner city and extend their home? “We’ve grown used to the area and it’s extremely convenient. My partner works at the end of the street”, says Crist.
Crist chose to extend and a ‘pop up’ third level was grafted onto the house. While the lower levels are constructed in concrete block, the addition is clad in recycled Victorian ash. The third level provides a flexible space. It can be used as a rumpus room, a ballet studio (for one of the children), and an all-purpose room. “Often, we’ll have parties up here”, says Crist, who included a terrace covered with artificial grass in the renovations. “ The space could also be used as a bedroom”, he adds.
While the studio is enclosed by floor-to-ceiling glass doors, there’s also a curtain below the wide eave to filter harsher sunlight. To create on outdoor feel to the studio, a ‘billboard’ of a rock formation features on one wall.
The other part of the renovation focused on the bathroom on the first floor. Complete with steel trusses, the purpose was to create an industrial aesthetic. “One of the main issues was getting light into the bathroom”, says Crist who inserted highlight windws in the bathroom, as well as splaying a wall to increase the light.
“One of the largest challenges was building in a tight space. It wasn’t just working on site that required planning. It was also directing traffic in the street”, he adds.