Vaucluse House
The Vaucluse House includes substantial alterations and additions to an existing 1930’s house, which had previously included an addition by architect Professor Leslie Wilkinson.
Elements in disrepair were removed, and the existing house was redesigned to include new contemporary layers while acknowledging and preserving the Wilkinson elements. A key replanning gesture was to shift the main entry to a more considered location, which provided direct access into the previously disconnected courtyard.
This enabled the courtyard to become visually and spatially the centre-point of the house and also a quiet refuge from the intense summer northeasterly winds. It also enabled a direct access point down to the northern garden below.
New arched openings were created, centred on the Wilkinson arched colonnade. The original drawing room was connected to the courtyard and the new kitchen and dining spaces, strengthening the room’s form, materiality and charm. The house was replanned to provide strong axial views connecting spaces, light and cross ventilation.
The existing roof was retained and modified to accommodate the bedrooms with simple linear dormer windows to the north and south of the roof. Bathroom and hall ceilings project vertically reaching up through the height of the roof space to skylights which provide natural light to the upper level bathrooms and circulation spaces.
The new living areas open to full-width northern glazing, seamlessly connecting to a generous cantilevered deck that steps around large angophora and crepe myrtle trees, supported on two very fine and extremely tall and slender steel columns anchored into the natural rock outcrops below, creating a perfect blend of nature and architecture.
Vaucluse House
The Vaucluse House includes substantial alterations and additions to an existing 1930’s house, which had previously included an addition by architect Professor Leslie Wilkinson.
Elements in disrepair were removed, and the existing house was redesigned to include new contemporary layers while acknowledging and preserving the Wilkinson elements. A key replanning gesture was to shift the main entry to a more considered location, which provided direct access into the previously disconnected courtyard.
This enabled the courtyard to become visually and spatially the centre-point of the house and also a quiet refuge from the intense summer northeasterly winds. It also enabled a direct access point down to the northern garden below.
New arched openings were created, centred on the Wilkinson arched colonnade. The original drawing room was connected to the courtyard and the new kitchen and dining spaces, strengthening the room’s form, materiality and charm. The house was replanned to provide strong axial views connecting spaces, light and cross ventilation.
The existing roof was retained and modified to accommodate the bedrooms with simple linear dormer windows to the north and south of the roof. Bathroom and hall ceilings project vertically reaching up through the height of the roof space to skylights which provide natural light to the upper level bathrooms and circulation spaces.
The new living areas open to full-width northern glazing, seamlessly connecting to a generous cantilevered deck that steps around large angophora and crepe myrtle trees, supported on two very fine and extremely tall and slender steel columns anchored into the natural rock outcrops below, creating a perfect blend of nature and architecture.