Elm St House is a project designed by Gardiner Architects in 2018, covers an area of 230 m2 and is located in Melbourne, Australia. Photography by Rory Gardiner.

“We always find joy when we get to work with clients that are members of their community who prioritise creating spaces that bring people together. Whether it’s a playground, a childcare centre or residential project, the architecture can support activities that allow for and inspire connection. Seeing value in community connectivity allows a project to move beyond ?hero architecture.? The architectural gesture comes later as a result of an intellectual process fuelled by the incentive of why we are doing it in the first place.

When a family comes to us with an old house or terrace like the one in this project, they?ve accepted that the small, pokey and often dark spaces don?t provide reasonable opportunity for their young family to evolve, flourish and enjoy the lifestyle they?d inevitably like to lead. Our intention with the Elm Street project was to open the house up through the connection of spaces internally while at the same time, letting the outside in. The project also sees a balance between retaining old building stock and a reconfiguration for better family life. It also involved a restructuring of the segregation between formal and informal space.
The family at Elm Street are really connected to their local community. They?re friends with all the...