Construction in the James Street Residence is nearing completion and is being currently being prepared for handover to the client.
The project is positioned at the top of a hill in Richmond that looks back onto the Melbourne skyline. The existing residence has a highly specific heritage listing and conditions of the site required a considered response. The design process raised many questions. What is to be kept? What needs to be demolished? How can you repair and integrate detailed timber elements that make up its original character?
The response for the James Street Residence is one that allows the old and new components to be celebrated with distinct separation creating a literal cross section of old and new. Side by side sit the two structures, each clearly stating when they were designed. The modest workers cottage, has been brought back from the brink embracing lighter details in timber. Adjacent to that is a more sculptural, cantilevered dark form in slick metal and tinted glass. Internally and externally it is clear what is of the present and what is of the past.