This addition and renovation adaptively re-uses a one-storey industrial building to become an artist’s home, complete with studio and gallery. The project uses modest means to pursue an ambitious agenda of environmental sustainability, and to create living spaces which are lofty yet intimate
The design opens up the existing roof in the middle of the building with a soaring 12m ceiling and generous clerestory windows which flood the previously dark interior with natural light. Carefully calculated angles allow the south-facing windows to provide complete shading during the heat of summer but allow for solar heat gain during the colder winter months. The triple-height open living space acts as a thermal chimney for natural ventilation.
Within, the original concrete floor and white painted gallery-style walls are maintained. A “ribbon” of wood, including douglas fir timber which was salvaged from the existing structure, is drawn up the staircase and through the triple-height open living space to the second floor rooms and the clerestory window above. A high-efficiency wood burning stove is incorporated with an anthracite-painted volume of cabinetry which houses books, computer equipment, firewood, and a built-in cocktail bar. The four new roofs are each planted with indigenous plant species providing accessible gardens for the owners, and the many ecological benefits of green roofs.