what lies beyond – South Yarra

Fawkner Street house located in South Yarra, Victoria, is a renovation of an existing double fronted Victorian house and a reworking of the early nineties double story extension. Designed around the control of circulation, both horizontal and vertical to create an ever-changing unfolding of view which leads the occupant from one space to the next whilst leaving the residual destination spaces calm and anchored. Designed by Workshop Architecture, open vistas are deliberately denied to invite the viewer to seek out and discover that which lies beyond.
Similar gestures are explored vertically where the bridges across the central void upstairs deny all but slithers of view of the skylights far above, coaxing the occupant to the upper level. Here, open circulation along and over the central void connects bedrooms, bathrooms, and children’s play area. The void hence creates a series of planar visual thresholds both horizontally and vertically that frame views internally looking across the space and upward, the receding perspective capturing one view within another view within another.

Shannon McGrath