A modern, minimalist villa in Melbourne's Central Park, Australia, designed by local interior design studio Auhaus Architecture. The studio transformed a dimly lit Victorian villa into a minimalist and richly textured Central Park home through a double-storey extension and renovation. They combine old traditional features with new modern extensions, by celebrating materials, referencing existing geometries, and cleverly introduced through natural light and greenery.

The home features functional and spacious rooms for modern family living, with the four front rooms retained and remodelled. The rear of the home was transformed through a new double-storey extension featuring living spaces on the ground floor, children’s bedrooms, a mezzanine study, and a rooftop terrace above.The heritage home’s north-facing street frontage demanded the design to employ multiple strategies to introduce natural light into the living areas. Auhaus Architecture were able to establish that introduction with a central staircase void cut, courtyards, and an upper-level roof deck. The densely planted, verdant pocket courtyard provides a sense of calm and balances the threshold between the old house and the new extension.

The new extension considers the existing geometry of the Middle Park home. The entry to the hallway features a fine-lined steel and glass arched door into the new living area, referencing the traditional ornate arches. So too does the richly-veined spotted gum veneer in the kitchen joinery reference the front room’s timber oak flooring. The spotted gum timber kitchen cabinetry brings warmth to the living areas and sits in contrast to the cool grey concrete floors and insitu benchtop.