Dynamic and ever changing: Light House

Light was always going to be crucial to the design of this house, owned by the director of The Flaming Beacon, a specialist lighting practice and store in Melbourne. Wanting to update his family home, the client engaged Layan for the alteration and addition, as he and Layan director Johannes Hartfuss had worked on multiple projects together. They focused on maximizing natural light and indirect light, while overcoming the challenges of privacy faced by the Victorian worker’s cottage.

The street facade and front rooms have been maintained and a modern extension built to the rear boundary to accommodate the living areas. A first-floor addition contains the main bedroom and ensuite. The dining, kitchen and living spaces are oriented around a large central courtyard, and have full-height glazing and sliding doors so that they can benefit from natural light, ventilation and a view outdoors.

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The main living spaces open to the courtyard, bringing the feeling of being outdoors inside.

Image: Peter Bennetts

The kitchen is the central social hub of the house, where the family enjoys time together and entertains guests. The sink, cooktop and appliances are installed within the long kitchen island, which is used for everyday occasions and turns seamlessly into a dining table at one end. More kitchen amenities are contained within a wall of American oak cabinetry, including a four-metre benchtop and bar that are used for large gatherings.

The client selected and designed the lighting system and fittings throughout the home, including the steel-and-timber linear fixture above the kitchen island. It incorporates the rangehood and storage along with downlights and indirect uplights, providing task and ambient illumination.

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The screen modulates natural light by day and LEDs illuminate at dusk for a constant play of shadow and light. Artwork: Alexey Terenin.

Image: Peter Bennetts

The client and Layan also designed the 3D polycarbonate lighting screen on the upper-level facade. The screen comprises 907 back-to-back translucent convex discs, each containing a single amber LED that is programmed to illuminate in the evening when the room is occupied. “The screen is a decorative and functional solution to the common design challenge of privacy. It is both passive and active, and transforms the experience of the bedroom and bathroom through the manipulation of light,” says Johannes.

With its American oak joinery and travertine tiles, the bathroom is of luxury-hotel quality. Its spaces, while subtly divided, flow into one another. The screen provides privacy during both day and night, obstructing sightlines from neighbouring properties.

The client describes the screen as looking like a veil of “oversized urban vines.” As the discs filter sunlight and cast shadows across the bedroom and bathroom, the play of light becomes the dynamic feature of the space, everchanging throughout the day and the year.