Northcote House (House #05)
Wurundjeri Country
House #05 is set in a tight urban infill plot. LLDS has transformed a seemingly useless car park space in a prime inner suburb of Melbourne into a two-bedroom dwelling. The house consists of a green roof garden elevated off the ground like a giant plant pot to provide a space for a kitchen and lounge space on the first floor with a library and two bedrooms on the ground floor. The scheme achieved a score of 8/10 (excellent) in the Sustainable Design Assessment. This construction of the house utilised advanced manufacturing processes including CNC milled formwork for in-situ concrete and robotically cut blockwork to achieve a high level of craftsmanship in the build. A book on the house is forthcoming in 2024.
Awards:
Australian Institute of Architects (Victoria Chapter), Sustainability Award 2024
Premier Award for Australian Interior Design 2024
Australian Interior Design Award 2024: Best of State (Victoria)
Australian Interior Design Award 2024: Residential Design
Jury citation for Australian Institute of Architects (Victoria Chapter), Sustainability Award:
Northcote House by LLDS is a provocative addition to the Westgarth context, drawing in key views and offering glimpses of an extraordinarily crafted internal environment. The three-level terrace house transforms a previously unused carpark on a service lane with its street address composed of exposed skeletal roof eaves floating between the two boundary walls, with hints of the undulating surfaces of the roof garden above. Loaded with native planting, the roof acts as a thermal blanket with strategically placed skylights punctuating the ceiling ribs to bring light through the open stairwell to the library at ground level. Materials were considered for their longevity, thermal performance, and honesty, with very few finishing surfaces evident. The house further expresses sustainability ambitions and outcomes by integrating design for deconstruction and advanced manufacturing processes and Passivhaus principals seamlessly to create highly crafted spaces and solutions. Northcote House demonstrates a refreshing approach to local, low-embodied energy materials and an ongoing commitment to testing how the integration of sustainable building systems can enhance the lived experience.
Jury citation for Premier Award for Australian Interior Design 2024:
This project stood out for the jury as it rigorously challenged each member’s way of thinking about residential interiors. Northcote House’s innovation and sustainability agenda, with every component of the home manufactured within five kilometres of the site, gave it an edge, making the project a very deserving recipient of the Premier Award. It is technically very impressive and boasts a seamless integration of interiors and architecture, which is also to be highly commended. The project’s innovative building technologies and processes have driven a unique outcome and as a champion of small footprint living, the house’s intimate spaces spark joy.
Photography by Tom Ross
