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Issue 59 - The Life Outside Issue

Issue 59

The Life Outside Issue

Introducing the Life Outside issue of Habitus magazine. With life increasingly being absorbed into a digital space, there is never a more important moment to hold something tangible. In this context, the power of nature to have a physiological impact on our sense of wellbeing has never been more important. So how can we cultivate the benefits of the our natural environment in the most intimate of places – our homes? This was the question that helped to bring this issue of Habitus to life.

A Product of

The Treetop House
HomesHabitusliving Editor

The Treetop House

Australia

This beautiful home in Melbourne’s Middle Park brings a little bit of childhood fantasy to a very grown-up house.


What we love most about this house: The amazingly detailed sheet metal screen is like peering into an enchanted forest.

The details:

Architect: Matt Gibson Architecture + Design
Location:
Middle Park, Melbourne

From the rear, this Melbourne terrace is like a timber-clad apostrophe nestled tightly between its neighbours. Matt Gibson Architecture + Design took on this renovation and extension on a tight budget.

“The rear addition presents as a long tall timber-clad tube wrapped around the remnants of the existing boundary walls and cleared ground floor interior,” Matt explains.

By reconfiguring the interior spaces to one side they have been able to draw light in through a 10-metre-long skylight, solving that ever-present terrace drawback of cave-like spaces.

 

At the rear of the first floor a ‘forest’ transfer has been applied to the windows of the master bedroom, while a cut sheet metal screen is set externally beyond the windows.

 

 

“The artistic treetop graphic plays on the intention of bringing the garden inside and looking over treetops,” Matt says. “At night an eery cinematic dimension takes over the master bedroom with a wise owl keeping watch over the Parkland.”

 

The most is made of the narrow site by using unobtrusive cabinetry while the skylight draws in light and widens the space.

 

Recycled timber products, low embodied energy materials, low energy appliances, AAA rated water fittings, T5 fluro lighting and locally sourced & made materials all add to the environmental credentials.

 

 

 

Who says there isn’t room for a little bit of enchantment in the suburbs!

 

Matt Gibson Architecture + Design
mattgibson.com.au

 

Photography: John Wheatley

 

 


About the Author

Habitusliving Editor

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ArchitectureAustraliaHome ArchitectureHouse ArchitectureoldResidential Architecture


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Issue 59 - The Life Outside Issue

Issue 59

The Life Outside Issue

Introducing the Life Outside issue of Habitus magazine. With life increasingly being absorbed into a digital space, there is never a more important moment to hold something tangible. In this context, the power of nature to have a physiological impact on our sense of wellbeing has never been more important. So how can we cultivate the benefits of the our natural environment in the most intimate of places – our homes? This was the question that helped to bring this issue of Habitus to life.

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