Golden Opportunity

The Victorian gold rush town of Ballarat is in the midst of a design boom, thanks to architects like Mick and partner Jules Moloney, who capitalised on a gap for high-end residential in the market 10 years ago, relocating from Melbourne to establish their young architectural practice: Moloney Architects.

“We believe in the strong fundamentals of sustainability, rather than the bells and whistles, but people still want something that looks and feels amazing,” Mick says.

Along with their tribe, comprising seven-year-old Eleanor, Peggy five and Henry two, plus Reddy Spaghetti the Airedale, Jules and Mick have riffed on the recent trend for professional services to set up on the main street. They’ve added their family home to the mix too, creating an all-on-one block for work and play.

Their vision was to transform the front of their 1910 Victorian home into an architectural practice, rework the existing cramped living quarters and add a wooden box at the rear, with a focus on raw, inexpensive and child-proof materials, including black formply, Tasmanian oak and blackbutt floors. The block’s north-facing, deep rear backyard, and business-friendly pluses – including two entrances and a rear laneway – provided the bones.

As construction began, some elements were ripped down – e.g. the façade’s aluminium fake weatherboard and “old lady wallpaper” – while others were retained and celebrated: little square windows in the kids’ rooms as part of the original stove and oven, and Baltic pine floors.

The front of the house has remained Victorian, with an original brick-paved chimney separating the client meeting room and work zone. From here, a central hallway peels off to the main bedroom and ensuite, two interconnecting kids’ bedrooms and a family bathroom, with a small powder room servicing the front practice office.

But it is within the contemporary wooden box at the back that the family comes alive, and here the ceiling height lifts to create a soaring sense of light and space comprising living and dining, and the kitchen. The kids can run up and down between the two spaces, learning the tools of Mum and Dad’s trade towards the front, and playing happily at the back.

At breakfast, the family gathers around the kitchen table. Morning sunlight streams through the splashback window and adjacent planter box, and above it extends a long shelf brimming with plants and greenery set off by black formply. The shelf ends where the garden outside begins. “We love the idea of bringing a sense of the landscape into the interior,” Mick says.

During lunch, northern sun bathes the living space with light through vertical glass windows facing the backyard, and shines onto a large window seat and day bed, where Jules fills out a crossword, or reaches below to pull out a game for the kids from the integrated drawers in the under cavity. A clever sliding screen conceals a television with a mirror, further drawing the light, while a newly installed wood-burning stove adds cosiness during winter.

“The sunlight access is probably good for your soul,” Mick laughs. Outside, a large plum tree on the west side provides shade in summer and is pruned back for the winter, creating an outdoor room for the deck and courtyard garden, with space for Red [the Airedale] to frolic amidst the fruit trees and bamboo. The cedar timber cladding is slowly greying off beautifully, and frames the pendants inside that flick on when the sun retreats at the end of each day.

In the evening, the family comes together again in the kitchen. The island bench is designed like a piece of furniture, sitting off the floor, incorporating a stovetop enabling Jules and Mick to cook, chat and face the living area. The pair also designed a rangehood unit out of black formply – becoming a Moloney trademark – and mirrors to disappear into the exposed timber roof, adding to the sense of space.

“It’s compact living, and I think most of the world lives like that. To us, this mode is how we want to live,” Mick says.

A clever detail is the 2.4-metre shadow line that marks the separation between the old house and wooden box. It allows for a smart connection space that serves as the informal side entry – the mark of friendship in a regional town – with open bookshelves peeking into the living space, and log fire storage and space for shoes and jackets. Adjacent, there’s a hard working unit that houses a washing machine – instead of a laundry – integrated fridge and wall niche for family knick-knacks.

“The thing I love about this house is that there’s no wasted space. Everything is used,” Jules says.

For now, the buzz of on-site action, their Ballarat base, family and continual learning of real things means Jules and Mick are content with life.

“I keep pinching myself, it’s so good!” Jules laughs.