Back to Front House

Back to Front House is the alteration and thermal upgrade of a 1930s weatherboard house in the Dandenong Ranges. The project reorients the plan toward the rear garden, removes two internal load-bearing walls, introduces new structure, and rebuilds the living spaces around a more direct relationship between house, deck and landscape. The project uses reuse as a construction method rather than an aesthetic. Double-glazed windows were sourced second-hand, existing weatherboards were retained and repaired, floorboards were reused, and salvaged elements were integrated into the bathroom, kitchen and joinery. New insulation, services and structure are added to improve comfort and performance while keeping the original building fabric in use. The house sits between retrofit, self-build logic and architectural experiment. It is not a total transformation, but a sequence of careful upgrades that make the existing building more durable, more comfortable and more spatially useful. The project forms part of a broader interest in how small-scale domestic work can contribute to larger questions of carbon, cost and material retention.

Client Private Photography Pier Carthew Location Selby, Victoria Country Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country Year 2025-ongoing Status in progress Type Residential alteration, retrofit, thermal upgrade