Green Magazine #76 November-December 2020

For many of us in 2020, our homes have also became our workplaces – and for some of us, this has led to a rethink. What is the future of office design and will houses increasingly incorporate workspaces? We look at a variety of offices in this issue, some in the home and others outside of it, all with flexibility in mind. Our Tasmanian cover house, designed by Taylor and Hinds Architects, includes places for quiet study as opposed to work. A small library has replaced a bathroom as the client is a prolific reader. The importance of outdoor space has also been highlighted in these housebound times. In New Zealand’s Wellington, Spacecraft Architects has designed a low-budget renovation around a courtyard, to protect its residents from the city’s gusty winds. PHOOEY Architects…

Caffeine Dream Loose Lips don’t just sink ships anymore, they also make a mighty fine coffee. Mount Beauty, Victoria’s Loose Lips Caffeine Dealer (LLCD) was designed by Albury-based SM.A to give back to a community that has endured the dual catastrophes of bushfire and pandemic. “We provide a platform for local produce,” explains Design Director Simon Maguire. Passing traffic by local businesses’ cellar doors may have dwindled, but LLCD is serving up their wine, cheese, charcuterie and pastries to customers, including coffee roasted locally in Mount Beauty. It follows that a business established to do good by its community would prioritise sustainability. The fitout includes recycled brass fittings, low-water Vitra taps and toilet and solar power, plus repurposed furniture and materials such as the ash communal table. The environmental impact of operations is…

This might sound controversial, but not all great minds think alike. In the case of Makiko Ryujin and Michael Gittings, their differences are what makes theirs such a prosperous partnership. Makiko saw much of the world before coming to Melbourne. Born in Japan, she spent a year studying in Jakarta before finishing her secondary studies in Melbourne, where she later completed a Bachelor of Photography degree at RMIT University. A while later came Makiko’s foray into woodturning, which lead to a fateful stint at Coburg coworking space, Space Tank Studio. It was here that she crossed paths with Australian artist, Michael Gittings. The two’s 2019 collaborative work, Impermanence, is what Michael refers to as “the seed for the evolution of our work together.” It’s a fitting metaphor, given that Makiko and Michael’s…

AGILE Foolscap Studio’s digs may be dubbed ‘The Cloud’, but its dynamism ensures that this project's feet are firmly planted on the ground. After much searching, Foolscap Studio found the perfect site in a former factory in Melbourne’s artsy Collingwood; then transformed it into a creative studio and networking space catering for product design, prototyping, hospitality occasions and wellness initiatives. The interior palette is elegant, yet easygoing: headliners are timber, ample greenery and soft textiles. Elements like limewashed wall cladding by Porta, decorative lighting by ISM Objects and the studio’s own custom-designed modular lounge (aka ‘The Soufflé’) bring plenty of character. foolscapstudio.com.au STROKE OF GENIUS This Carlton, Melbourne apartment has an enviable view over the gardens outside, but its original layout fell short of realising its assets. Tom Eckersley Architects put an end…

When Mat Hinds of Taylor and Hinds Architects describes this project, he does so with joy. He expresses the pleasure of working with a client who was ready to be challenged architecturally, and who pushed back, with outstanding results; the joy of returning to a site he already knew through a previous client (although the project did not eventuate in this case); and the delight of transforming the dark, damp, cluttered rear of a timber Federation cottage into a light-filled, ‘feathered’ space in which the client, a prolific reader and proficient craftswoman, can attend to her daily contentments. Lena, the client, placed no limits on her architects. Instead of requesting ‘safe moves’, says Mat, “Lena placed herself totally in our hands, and yet I see Lena in every aspect; she is…

Architect Taylor and Hinds Architects taylorandhinds.com.au Builder DS Building Joiner Dickens Constructions Window joiner Trimview Passive energy design The aspect of the site mitigates the low winter sun, and pressure from the upslope ground encroaches upon the garden and natural light. This presented as a primary issue to be addressed in the reworking of the interior. The new work needed to ameliorate the pressure of the terrain, revivify the garden, and increase the sunlight to the interior. Rather than entirely build out onto the new terrace, an extension is made obliquely, to compartmentalise the sandstone shelf as additional living space as well as a northeasterly oriented courtyard. This turns the orientation of the living space along, rather than against, the contour and opens the living spaces to morning aspect. The high-profiled roof captures sunlight deep into the plan. The…