JOHN ELLWAY. ARCHITECT

Hopscotch House is located close to the top of a ridge dubbed Wooloongabba ‘Heights’. Home to many young families, the pre-war estate of character housing sits between a motorway to the east and an inner-city hospital precinct to the west. Each morning children leave their home and join an ever-growing procession of kids and parents walking along the ridge towards the local school. Two join from this household.

The name captures the idea of a home that encourages play and movement. Places for games, places to hide, places to discover, and places to escape. It also references the physical manifestation the house in plan.

Having a backyard to the south, meant the adjacent former living areas were cold in winter. The key move was to stretch the plan down into the backyard to the maximum allowed 25m. The cottage was largely untouched to manage costs. The built area of the addition was minimised by inserting a series of garden courtyards between the cottage and each of the new living spaces.

The five gardens give each adjacent room a northerly aspect to capture sun, breeze, and light. Walls, roof, and openings are assembled as a repeating kit-of-parts designed to mediate weather through the year. Wall sized openings of solid shutters manage airflow and rain. This solid is offset by fixed glazing above which lets light and shadow play across the timber clad ceiling and rendered block walls throughout the day.

Collaborating with a landscape architect, planting has been chosen to add another layer of weather protection in each courtyard. Each is particular to the adjacent room. The entry courtyard contains a flowering tree as a welcoming arrival. It is located to the rear of the existing house, to bypass private bedroom spaces. Adjacent the kitchen sits a garden intended for productive planting. The dining area opens to a courtyard filled by a large olive tree managing the western aspect. The lounge, kitchen and dining rooms share a secure garden containing a large collection of plants the owners have cultivated over time. Enclosed with mesh, the shutters can be left open securely when no one is home.

Construction materials are raw, making the addition feel more like an external space. Block walls are rendered internally and protect the rooms from early morning and late afternoon sun. Externally, corrugated sheet extends down the walls. Vine covered mesh softens and adds another layer of weather protection.

A brick floor extends through the addition stepping to link the slightly elevated timber cottage back to the garden, and out into the dining courtyard. This central hallway allows diagonal views between living spaces and sets up a circulation spine between old and new. At the end of the hallway, though the former front door of the cottage, sits the ‘neighbourhood garden’ adjacent to the footpath. It serves an important social function. Elevated above the footpath you can sit, read a book, or look out and engage with neighbours and the groups of school kids that pass by.

DATA

SITE – 405m²
HOUSE – 120m²
CARPORT+SHED – 28m²
COMPLETED – 2022

THANKS

OWNERS – Tyra & Jared
DESIGN – with Hannah Waring
CARPENTRY – Ash Brown
ENGINEER – Ingineered
GARDEN – Studio Terrain

SUPPLIERS

LANDSCAPING – Werner Weis
APPLIANCES – Fisher & Paykel
BRICKS – Bowral, Brickworks
TILES – Inax Sugie, Artedomus
FURNITURE – Mast + Nomi + Found
LIGHTING – Miguel Milá, Santa & Cole
BASINS – Lindsey Wherrett + Duravit

IMAGES

PHOTOS – Toby Scott
CONSTRUCTION – Instagram