Mavis

Mavis House — named after the client's whippet — started with a post-war brick veneer home in good bones, in Yarraville — worth keeping, not knocking down. The original building now holds the bedrooms; a new extension at the rear does the rest.

The site had two real problems to solve, not just one. First: a south-facing backyard, the classic headache for anyone chasing passive solar in Melbourne — the sun you want is out the front, not the back. Second: the neighbouring home to the east threatened both overshadowing and privacy. So the extension was anchored hard against the east boundary, turning the building itself into a buffer, and pushed all its glazing toward a central courtyard and the backyard instead.

That courtyard is the trick that makes the whole house work. Separating old from new— linked by a glass walkway — freed up space for a skillion roof pitching north, carrying a pair of 3m-tall double-hung windows straight into the living zone. Winter sun floods in and lands on a polished concrete slab, which soaks up the heat and releases it slowly through the evening. A carefully sized eave shades the same glass in summer, so the house doesn't need to lean on air conditioning to stay comfortable. The windows open bottom-up too, for proper cross-ventilation on the days you just want the breeze.

None of this shrank the brief. The client got their walk-in robe and ensuite, a multi-purpose room, a renovated bathroom, and an open kitchen-living-dining space bright enough and private enough to actually use — hardwood timber screens (soon covered in creeping vines) keep the neighbours out of view without blocking the light. Fine joinery through the kitchen carries a breakfast bar out to a year-round outdoor entertaining area, while a separate, cosier living zone with a fireplace gives the family somewhere to retreat to.

The existing brick garage stayed too — repurposed for storage and bikes instead of heading to landfill, which meant less new material going into the build overall.

Completed in 2020, Mavis House retained the original 110m² dwelling, added a 67m² extension, and kept a 27m² garage.