VAUCLUSE HOUSE
“The modernist cube in the valley of love” client Kit
This project is about old and new elements.
The concept was to create a modern addition on top of a 1940s brick-and-tile cottage. The new addition is a clean, modern, flexible and robust structure containing communal public areas allowing the building to connect with the site, light and views. The existing cottage is ornamental and complex, and has been carefully and elegantly renovated to create the private, cosy spaces.
On arrival, you cross the new hardwood bridge and enter the open-plan, modernist box constructed from steel, glass, compressed fibre cement and hardwood. It contains the public living and balcony areas connecting the house to the harbour views to the north.
A new rear staircase allows you to move down through the building into the private spaces of the original house. The existing structure has been reworked to form bedrooms, bathrooms, study etc. Existing elements have been maintained and highlighted such as decorative plaster ceilings, decorative timberwork, architraves and skirting boards.
Photographer- Sharrin Rees