levo’s house, hawthorn, victoria
Quite a few years back in the premask world, a couple contacted me through mutual friends, to see if I’d be interested in designing them a new home. A familiar story for architects. Word of mouth can be our saviour. They’d been down that road before. They knew about architects. Hadn’t been stung. Their cousin had previously designed them a fine home to live in, not just the bells and whistles but an attic that over the years became animated by the most extraordinarily crafted model train set. I’d never seen anything like it. The creator and craftsman, my client, stood before me. Cheeky grin. I thought to myself, ‘fun times ahead’. A client’s trust is golden. Once established, doors open easily (pun intended). Our client’s were looking for a new start. Their kids had ‘flown the coop’, and in celebration the ‘downsize’ flag had been raised. We helped search for a site for them on which to land their new life. We settled on a small patch of land adjoining a park. A difficult site (small and triangular) in a difficult street (heritage and highfalutin!). We used the strict planning guidelines to our advantage and honoured our clients desire to live in the treetops but retreat at night to their private world at ground level. We took the triangular geometry of the site and created an undulating, folded fly roof that gently shelters and protects. The house isn’t shy. You’re not going to be able to sneak past it without it noticing. And it’s provided lots of opportunities for locals to wag their tongues.