A Culinary Couple Brings Japanese Design to Their Italianate Home

A young couple in Melbourne had started making waves on the city's culinary scene when they decided it was time to take on a new project: a home for their growing family. They had fallen in love with an 1890s Victorian Italianate dwelling, but with three kids and two dogs, they needed more space and a better layout. The home had an addition from the 1950s, which was quickly demolished in favor of a eye-catching new two-story extension designed by Ola Studio.

The firm worked to preserve and repair as much of the original structure as possible and took inspiration from its design for the addition. "The new build adopts the rectilinear forms of the old rooms, but varies their sequence and size to create a series of intimate internal and external spaces," said architect Manos Mavridis. The extension's charred timber screen cladding contrasts with the pale masonry of the existing structure, creating the perfect juxtaposition between past and present, light and dark. The finished project gives the 1890s building a new life and a very contemporary new look.