It was first named “the messy house” by my son Chris (three years old) who would refer to it as such due to how ‘messy’ it looked during construction.

The street is in a conservation area with many grand old houses, each with their own verandahs and living rooms fronting the street as they did in Victorian times. There are also some beautiful trees amidst the built landscape. I thought that the built form in the street could and should be respected in the new building by way of a roof-form and building base.

The concept of a ‘verandah-like’ form could be considered in a new idiom; the interiors and program remain where originally planned, with living rooms that now face the street in a sort of internalized verandah. The large living area at the street frontage is availed the opportunity of a view of the tree canopy landscape by way of a horizontal box-window, framed top and bottom in solid elements like Ned Kelly’s mask.