2020 Houses Awards: House Alteration and Addition over 200m²

Award | 2020 Houses Awards Jury

31 Jul 2020

Joint winner: Ruckers Hill House by Studio Bright

Ruckers Hill House by Studio Bright.

Image: Rory Gardiner

Jury comment

Bands of stately Edwardian houses at the edges of our major cities mark the reach of tram and train lines over time. Ruckers Hill House by Studio Bright, an intriguing alteration and addition to one such Edwardian, reflects new changes to the city and the way we live in it. The new addition pulls to the rear of the site, giving importance to secondary streets, and sends up a first floor, periscope-like, to take the measure of Melbourne’s ever-changing skyline.

Ruckers Hill House celebrates then subverts the order of operation of the Edwardian. The original double-loaded central corridor is extended in high-vis, bisecting the garden into an entry court and pool. It is a powerful move that is then totally dissolved in the extension, which has a subtle and unexpected circulation logic. A floating metal staircase acts as a spatial divider while level changes and theatrical curtains demarcate rooms.

The addition has a rich and playful material language. It reinterprets and abstracts the brick, timber and leadlight of the Edwardian house, as well as responding to its workaday corrugated fencing and sense of diminishing formality from front to rear. Kitchen and casual dining are sited on the street, and views in and out are filtered through a screen – a generous civic act that registers the changing context of contemporary family life.

The Award for House Alteration and Addition over 200m² is supported by Taubmans. See full image galleries of all the winning and shortlisted projects here.

Products and materials

Roofing: Lysaght Klip-lok roof decking in Colorbond ‘Surfmist’

External walls: LOHAS Nilo Rustic bricks; off-form concrete, corrugated

Internal walls: Australian Sustainable Hardwoods Goodwood lining boards Windows and doors: Capral 900 aluminium sliding doors in dark bronze

Flooring: Perini honed bluestone internal tiles; Australian Sustainable Hardwoods Goodwood Victorian ash floorboards

Lighting: Artemide Yanzi suspension pendant in brass; Criteria Collection Circuit light in blackened brass; Havit Tivah external wall light from Richmond Lighting; Brightgreen D900 ceiling lights from ECC Lighting; Crisp frosted wall lights by Rich Brilliant Willing from Living Edge; Oty Light POP P04 downlights; vintage Stilnovo wall light from Nicholas and Alistair

Kitchen: Fibonacci Stone Pavlova terrazzo benchtop and splashback; Australian Sustainable Hardwoods Goodwood Victorian ash joinery; Wolf freestanding oven; Qasair rangehood; Armando Vicario Luz Gooseneck pull-out mixer from Abey

Bathroom: Artedomus Antilia tiles; Inax Sugie Hanten mosaic tiles in ‘Grey’ Heating and cooling: Hydronic slab and wall heating; evaporative cooling Other: Schiavello Toro table and stools; KFive and Kinnarps Walsh Street dining table; Thonet No. 18 dining chairs; Grazia and Co Harvey curved-arm sofa and swivel armchair; Willie Weston cushions; Grazia and Co Ivy coffee table; Instyle Feel curtains in ‘Splendid’