WILLIAM TOZER associates

[williamtozerassociates]

Envelope House by William Tozer Associates 

[williamtozerassociates]

Envelope House by William Tozer Associates

[williamtozerassociates]

Envelope House by William Tozer Associates

[williamtozerassociates]

Envelope House by William Tozer Associates

[williamtozerassociates]

Envelope House by William Tozer Associates

[williamtozerassociates]

Envelope House by William Tozer Associates

[williamtozerassociates]

Envelope House

[williamtozerassociates]

Envelope House by William Tozer Associates

The project applies an interior strategy developed through preceding schemes into the design of external building form. Where the interior planes and volumes of previous projects are contained within an exterior volume of the same geometry, the interior elements of this project—planes of ceilings and walls—are continuous from inside to outside and there is no distinct, enclosing building form. To complete the building envelope, gaps between these elements are furnished with frameless glazing, dematerializing perception of them in the architectural composition. The timber planes and volumes of the garden are materially distinct from the white-painted building elements, but visually linked through their shared rectilinear geometry. The new architectural insertion accommodates an open-plan kitchen, living and dining space to the rear of the Victorian house. The kitchen loosely divides the other two zones, and the adjacent external areas are appropriated into these three internal spaces through material and visual continuity.

[williamtozerassociates]

Composite House by William Tozer Associates 

[williamtozerassociates]

Composite House by William Tozer Associates 

[williamtozerassociates]

[williamtozerassociates]

Composite House by William Tozer Associates 

[williamtozerassociates]

Composite House

A selection of spatial and formal devices developed individually in a number of preceding projects are redeployed here in a single composite arrangement. The project can be read as an autonomous composition, but also makes reference to the projects through which its components were serially developed.

The new subterranean level is connected to the interior of the existing house through two double-height spaces, and to the exterior by an internal courtyard. One of the double-height spaces provides a visual and spatial connection to the ground floor, while the other permits views into the dining and kitchen spaces from the galleried living space above. The courtyard blurs the distinction between interior and exterior, and can be appropriated into either the dining space or study, or both.

To both the interior and exterior, the incisive additions are articulated as abstract white planes and volumes that envelop and pass through the original building.