Hope House is a project designed by Design by AD. Located in West Footscray, Hope House, blends a rich connection to its heritage past with a future-focussed approach its expansion. Emerging as a balanced blend of legacy and lightness, the proposal bridges the gap between the two eras of the home, emphasising a consistency and sense of flow throughout the home in its entirety. The newly expanded and generous family home draws inspiration from the existing details and crafted elements, extending the overall building form outward into the rear of the site, while still integrating an homage to the past through the new gestures. Photography by Tatjana Plitt.

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A holistic approach fosters a continuous refinement of planning and functionality, with integrated flexibility for the spaces to adjust to the changing needs of the owners over time. As a reflection of the community focus of the area, a warmth is continued from the old into the new, with both scale and light considered as core contributors to the internal quality of the spaces. Together with Kate Patterson Landscape Architects, the natural elements provide a softening buffer to the home, encasing the built edges with animated plantings.

Funnelling movement to the rear, a shared living, dining, and kitchen space awaits, intended to facilitate a spill-over into the dedicated outdoor rooms. As balance of structural formality and more organic shapes, the creation of shared spaces encourages a coming together, emphasising these open spaces as the heart of the contemporary home. While mostly monochromatic, the base palette allows a layering from the owners to bring collected and new artworks, lighting, and furniture into each of the space, and act as a personal representation of who they are.

Despite the highly ornate original approach, the new focusses more on quality and longevity, with detail and the concealment of junctions the main point of difference. With the front rooms remaining as spaces of retreat, utilising the formal sense of separation already created, there is a hierarchy created between the intimate and the open areas, suited to the ebb and flow of everyday life. At its heart, Hope House is about extending a legacy and instilling relevance, and in reinterpreting the existing through a contemporary lens, a refreshing and layered sanctuary is created.