Chowne Street House
The Chowne Street House involved alterations to a 1950s modernist house in Canberra’s Inner North. The project is a reflection of the client’s contribution and of a true collaboration between the architect and client. The client has a keen interest in the mid-century era of the house and was positively engaged in the conceptual design process.
Builder: WQM Building Group
Photographer: LightStudies
Awards
The Gene Willsford Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions), 2018
The Pamille Berg Award for Art in Architecture, 2018
The Chowne Street House involved alterations to a 1950s modernist house in Canberra’s Inner North. The project is a reflection of the client’s contribution and of a true collaboration between the architect and the client. The client has a keen interest in the mid-century era of the house and was positively engaged in the conceptual design process.
The house was refurbished and updated, including the removal of previous unsympathetic additions, without compromising its modernist design integrity. The introduction of large windows facing the garden brings natural light deep into the living spaces.
A deck and pergola link the house and garden and create an outdoor room for informal social gatherings. An abstract wall painting by artist Ham Darroch enlivens the landscape spaces and draws the eye out into the garden.
What was always a distinctive and unusual house has undergone a sensitive renewal consistent with the tenets of Modernism and is a singular contribution to its conventional Canberran streetscape.