The Bent Robe originates from a desire to create a haven for two travel mad, soon-to-be retirees with compulsive shopping habits and a rapidly expanding wardrobe. With the addition of a new master bedroom, en suite and walk-in-robe, this project defines the latest stage in the evolution of a family home that has a history of embracing change. 

Situated in a quiet pocket of Melbourne’s suburbia, the original house, built in the late 1960’s, was one of a series of mass produced, architecturally designed houses that incorporated natural materials and emphasised functionality, embracing brutalist ideologies and challenging the superfluous in suburbia. After purchasing the house in the mid-1970s, the current owners constructed a high brushwood fence around the perimeter of the corner block and set out to make it a family home. Maggie Edmond (of Melbourne based architects Edmond and Corrigan) designed a double storey addition to accommodate their expanding family in the mid-1980’s. With their children having now left the nest and retirement imminent, the occupants’ lifestyle has continued to evolve, and the home was once again forced to respond.

Accommodating a wardrobe strained by regular overseas travel and the compulsive shopping habits of its occupants was the primary catalyst of this new phase. As such, the new robe was initially conceived as a shipping container deposited on the site as a receptacle for an extensive collection of clothes and shoes. While this conceptual starting point allowed the occupants to immediately relate to and engage with the project emotionally, reflecting their eccentricity, the scale and form of the shipping container also created a range of architectural opportunities on the site. Placed to the west of the original house, the relationship of the container to the existing structure defines the master bedroom, which was conceived as a flow through, in-between space, outside the confines of the existing house and significantly connected to the landscape of the site. 

The container was ultimately split in two, individually housing the robe and en suite, with the path between providing access to a private garden to the west of the site. The structural framework of the original structure was exposed, extended and stretched to envelop the bedroom space, linking the foreign containers to the body of the home.  This gesture not only reinforces the exteriority of the bedroom space, now inhabiting the framework of an extruded verandah, it also encourages the project to be experienced as a continuation rather than disruption of the history of the home, evolving in response to the movement of passing time.

The openness of the master bedroom is in complete contrast to the apparent introversion of the containers that shield against the western sun and protect against views of adjoining neighbours. The identity of the robe and en suite as independent, space defining objects is reinforced by their cohesive wrapping, with no differentiation of materials between outside and inside. Copper panels reflect the rich, earthy colours and textures indicative of the original house and express the apparent decay of these ‘imported’ containers finding their final resting place in Doncaster. The apparent introversion of the robe and en suite is undermined by a series of roof and wall projections that capture and direct sunlight internally while framing views of the sky and landscape beyond, localising the containers and connecting them to the site.

Products/Materials:

External Wall Cladding:         Weathered copper , Butylclad rubber lining

Roofing:                                 Colorbond ‘Klip-Lok’ deck, Butylclad rubber lining

Paving:                                   Recycled brick, Doral fully vitrified porcelain

Windows:                              Western red cedar, Breezeway Altair Louvre windows, Anodised aluminium glazing channels

External Doors:                      Western red cedar

External Door Hardware:       Lockwood

Pergola Structure:                  Re-milled Ironbark

Ceiling Lining:                        12mm hoop pine plywood

Internal Walls:                       Existing brickwork, Weathered copper, Butylclad rubber lining

Paint:                                     Dulux ‘Cotton Touch’

Lighting:                                 Brushed aluminium faced recessed downlights

Flooring:                                Doral fully vitrified porcelain

Joinery:                                 Off-white concrete vanity benchtop, Laminex Lamiwood in Amari Oak and New Antique White

Fittings & Fixtures:                Caroma Liano sanitary ware, Caroma Liano tapware  

Door Hardware:                    Industrial Expression ‘Conquest’ hardware