2515 Play House
Located in Swanbourne, Play House is a thoughtfully designed renovation and addition that transforms a modest character home into a contemporary family sanctuary. Designed for a growing family preparing to welcome twins, the home demonstrates how strategic architectural interventions unlock the potential of the existing home without sacrificing its character, location or connection to landscape. The clients loved their home, with outlook across the neighbouring park and its established setting, but the existing layout no longer supported their cozy family life. Limited bedrooms, constrained living spaces and an unusual central floor plan created challenges as the family's needs evolved.
Rather than pursuing a new build, the design retains the original front portion of the home and introduces a substantial rear addition. This approach preserved value, reduced demolition and allowed the project budget to be focused where it would have the greatest impact. At the centre of this renovation is a double height transition space that connects old and new. Acting as both circulation zone and architectural feature, it creates visual connection between levels while bringing natural light deep into the home.
The home takes its playful name from the idea of a house designed for our client’s family life. Play House embraces the realities of raising young children, creating spaces that are durable, flexible and connected. The architecture encourages movement between indoor and outdoor environments while supporting quieter moments of retreat and togetherness. Importantly, the home provides spaces for the children to have independent play and living spaces that evolve with them as they grow up.
A key objective was preserving as much garden space as possible. The family wanted room for lawn, play equipment and a future swimming pool, making the backyard an essential part of the brief. Rather than built development across the site, the design grows vertically, creating generous living spaces while maintaining valuable outdoor areas. Large openings and carefully framed views strengthen the relationship between the home and garden. Existing changes in site level were embraced rather than removed, allowing living spaces to feel immersed within the landscape while reducing unnecessary excavation and construction costs. A key design move was to maintain the raised back garden level, with the living and dining spaces in turn responding as sunken spaces nestled into the landscape.
As the design developed, the interiors evolved from a more restrained modernist aesthetic towards something richer and more layered. Warm timber finishes, polished plaster surfaces and deeper tonal palettes create a home that feels comfortable, welcoming and distinctly personal. Arched openings, sculptural niches and custom joinery introduce softness throughout the interiors, while providing opportunities for books, collected objects and family mementos. A dedicated library and activity zone reflects the clients' love of reading and creates a shared space for learning, play and connection. Our ability to visualise interior spaces in 3-Dimension was especially helpful for our clients to understand their new home beyond mere spatial attributes, and gave them the ability to view their home in terms of sentiment, shifting daylight and cozy materiality that still felt luxurious.
Long term adaptability was also central to our design considerations. The retained front portion of the home functions as a flexible zone that can evolve alongside the family. Existing planning allows for future modifications, enabling greater independence for growing children, visiting family members or guests as needs change over time.
Through a careful balance of retention and addition, Play House transforms a modest character home into a layered family environment that feels both connected and adaptable. The project embraces the realities of everyday family life while creating spaces that will continue to support changing patterns of living over time.