The project involved work to a large Calder Fowler & Styles Architects designed house built in 1968/9 in the Wellington suburb of Karori. The original construction of the three-story house was concrete masonry with 600mm deep in-situ concrete beams in a cellular layout supporting the first floor slab. The beams formed a strong structural modulation of the ground floor rooms, projecting through to be manifest on the exterior.
A large aluminium framed roof and colonial glazed conservatory covering the entire west-facing deck was added in the 1980’s. The materiality, detail and scale of the addition were incongruous to the disciplined modulation and volumetric characteristics of the existing dwelling. The monolithic form of the addition severed the connection between the house and the exterior in rooms where interaction was critical, resulting in a confusion of interior and exterior. Although large, the undifferentiated space was awkward, impersonal and suffered from a lack of intimacy from the interior rooms.
The revised design retains the amenity provided by a conservatory by splitting it in two either side of the existing dining room bay window. In doing so, a modulation complimentary to the existing house is achieved, while the bay window is freed to connect with the exterior over a bridging deck.
Complete removal of the existing conservatory to the concrete masonry piers and deck framing was required. Concrete beams were extended over the piers, unifying the conservatory with the house. The new conservatory roofs were glazed with low solar-gain glass, and new exterior joinery to align with the original window details was fabricated.
Ashley Cox Architect 