Our client's purchased the site in a state of total disrepair. The entire unit was left as framing and no brick cladding after the previous owner tried to repair some cracking and foundation issues but couldn’t complete the works. The client wanted to rework the floor plan to improve functionality and maximize the available space, with an internal area of just over 85sqm it was never going to be a huge home but we wanted to create a much larger open plan feel.
Plan Before:
Plan After:
Before:
After:
Being a unit within the development of other identical floor plans, we were restricted by the body corporate on enlarging the footprint. The initial thoughts were a typical approach by opening up the living area and connecting the inside and outside as much as possible to borrow space and create the illusion of a larger area.
Eventually, we put aside the existing floor plan and took a completely fresh approach to the plan by using the outside walls as the boundary we wanted to find the best link between the front yard and back yard. Given the house was already a shell it wasn’t much to relocate plumbing and internal walls to totally rework the floor plan. We looked at the available building envelope and figured if we can’t add more floor area we should maximise the volume, The roof space was entirely underutilised having ample space for an additional bedroom or loft office. To make the most of the attic loft we dropped the existing floor level of the house by 300mm which allowed for a more comfortable head height and usable floor areas within the sloped roof of the attic.
Before:
After:
Overall the transformation went above and beyond the client's expectations. By pushing the budget a little further we were able to improve the overall accommodation and appeal for an otherwise bog standard 70’s era unit. The once small and dated ‘granny flat type’ accommodation with an awkward floor plan is now a contemporary unit for any young professional maximising space and providing much-improved connection to the large outside area.
After:
Craig's Designs