Coming soon!

August 18th, 2010 by admin No comments »

Our interior design team is putting the finishing touches to a brand new architectural finishes kit, available for purchase soon.

The kit includes comprehensive in-the-know choices on selected interior products that we use and recommend. Packed with the most recent information and images about everything from materials, colours, finishes and fittings, hard and soft flooring, laminates, bathware, kitchenware, lighting and a great deal more.

We’ve drawn upon hundreds of hours of research, specifying and trade knowledge, saving you the time, money and complexity usually involved in coming up with the right solutions. Once you’ve purchased the pack, you can fast track to the finishes you prefer, then take it directly to your builder for pricing.

Essentially, our architectural finishes kit gives you access to architect’s and interior designer’s insider knowledge, at a very affordable price. Like to know more? Email cate@my-architect.com.au or call us on 1300 321 119.

More details soon…

What we’ve been up to this month

August 16th, 2010 by admin No comments »

VICTORIA

  • Brighton East – Upper storey addition to 1940s home to include bedroom and ensuite and reconfiguration of living/dining area downstairs
  • Caulfield North - A second storey addition and renovation to transform a 1970s house into a contemporary family home.
  • Bendigo - Designs for a large contemporary home overlooking a lake on an elevated block.
  • Blackburn - A major addition and renovation to a single-storey home to accommodate a growing family.
  • Sorrento - Renovation to improve layout of long-standing family holiday home as an alternative to demolition.
  • Patterson Lakes - Makeover of waterfront townhouse.
  • Frankston - Design of new home on creek front land with private jetty and absolute waterfront location.
  • Donvale - Upstairs extension to 3 bedroom home, including some reconfiguration downstairs as well.
  • Newport - Extension and renovation of 1950s-style weatherboard home, including new open plan kitchen/living area, bathroom and ensuite.
  • Hampton - Renovation of large Edwardian home, including kitchen extension and redesign of laundry.
  • Mitcham - Fresh ideas for the renovation of this 1950s home built at the back of a large sloping block.


NEW SOUTH WALES

  • Earlwood – Master plan for a newly purchased, two storey family home, with a bathroom renovation as the first stage.

The shrinking block

August 12th, 2010 by admin No comments »

For generations, the quarter acre block has been at the heart of the Australian dream. In 1900, the average block was a whopping 1,200 square metres and the average house around 150 square metres.

Post-war, the quarter acre block (around 1000sqm) provided room for a family home of around 200 square metres and a substantial backyard, commonly filled with a chook house, shed, vegetable patch, fruit tree, a Hills Hoist and a decent patch of lawn to kick the footy or play cricket. The quarter acre block shaped our idea of home and neighbourhood.

By 1990, the average new block had shrunk to 600 sqm, while house sizes had increased to 250 sqm. In 2005, land size had decreased to around 400 sqm, whereas house size had grown to 325 sqm.

Based on recent sales within 20km of each capital city, about 91% of home sales were positioned on land blocks less than 1,000sqm. In the larger cities, the proportion is much higher, with 94% of home sales within 20km of the Melbourne CBD being on a block of land less than 1,000sqm, 93% in Brisbane and 92% in Sydney.

This reflects the growing scarcity of land, the rising need to create more affordable housing and our evolving lifestyle preferences where more households prefer  lower maintenance, smaller blocks.

Average land areas will more than likely continue to fall across metropolitan areas of Australia. And even as average house sizes continue to rise and McMansions continue to be built, these days, on average, relatively few Australians live on the traditional quarter-acre block.

Smart, stylish sustainability

August 10th, 2010 by admin No comments »

Green magazine offers a fresh and not overly earnest take on sustainability, architecture and landscape design. It gets you thinking about the best ways to reduce your impact, and introduces ingenious ideas you may not have thought about. And it does it in an appealing format that’s stylish as well as accessible. Definitely a favourite on our reading list.

This month, we started work on…

July 20th, 2010 by admin No comments »

VICTORIA

  • Black Rock - Rearrangement of interior of large 1970s family home as an alternative to selling and moving.
  • Ascot Vale – Changes to rear of classic 1930s style home to provide new bedroom and living areas and engage more fully with the back garden.
  • Torquay - Initial ideas and advice on the design of a large, contemporary, single-storey family home.
  • Port Melbourne – Renovation to classic, single fronted Victorian home.

NSW

  • Elanora Heights – Ideas for a new contemporary home, incorporating an existing bungalow structure.
  • Bangor – Major transformational alterations to double-storey home overlooking parkland.
  • Lower MacDonald – Advice and ideas on major renovations to riverfront property.

Building & Home Improvement Expo

July 20th, 2010 by admin No comments »

Three days. Thousands of enthusiastic home renovators. Thanks to all of you who visited our stand and had a chat. It was great to learn about the incredible variety of projects that people are planning.

Many of you requested further details about My Architect and how we can help with your project. Our website is a great place to start, but you could also take a look at past blog stories such as ‘the initial meeting‘ and ‘how our concept drawings help move your project forward‘. If you have any further queries, email cate@my-architect.com.au.

Laundries need love too

July 20th, 2010 by admin No comments »

The laundry has long been a neglected part of the home and most people dread spending time there. But it doesn’t need to be that way. My Architect adopts the following design strategies when considering optimising the use and functionality of laundries:

  • While it makes sense not to use the ‘prime real estate’ of the home when locating the laundry, clever use of lighting, a translucent glass window or even borrowed natural light from another room will increase its appeal.
  • We recommend extending the architectural style of the rest of the house to the laundry.
  • Don’t treat your laundry like a cupboard. Be more generous with space than expected. Make laundries aesthetically pleasing as well as functional and durable.
  • Clean clothes are very comforting and pleasing to the senses. A laundry has the potential to reflect these qualities as well.

In the above example, the laundry benches include chocolate brown laminate with custom designed lacquered doors. A ‘Œbutler’s sink’ with an exposed front edge combines contemporary materials with a a traditional treatment. Goose neck tapwear adds a sense of style. Built-in lighting provides an even, uplifting spread of light. A translucent window lets in natural light.

New projects

June 18th, 2010 by admin No comments »

We recently got going on the following new projects:

VICTORIA

  • East St.Kilda – renovation of 1950s style home featuring an indoor/outdoor kitchen, additional bedrooms and bathrooms.
  • Greensborough – The owners of this 1970’s style home are looking to modernise and approached us to provide advice and ideas regarding the initial design and their associated costs.

NSW

  • Naremburn – Renovation of large heritage home, including new bathroom ensuite extension.
  • Wilton – Providing advice on the best way to optimise a rural block in the design of a 285 sq m new home.
  • Coomba Park - Extension to a 3 bedroom house on 48 acres, with proximity to the water.
  • Queens Park – Renovation of single storey, 19th century terrace house, including new bedroom and bathroom upstairs and redesign of the kitchen and dining areas.
ACT
  • Chifley - Design advice regarding a demolition and rebuild project.

QUEENSLAND

  • Windsor – Renovation and extension of a classic Queenslander home to provide more living areas and space.

Building & Home Improvement Expo – 2 for 1 offer

June 17th, 2010 by admin No comments »

Book your tickets here for Australia’s No.1 Building and Renovation Expo (July 9-11) in Melbourne and receive two tickets for the price of one.

Kitchen rethink

June 9th, 2010 by admin No comments »

My Architect devised this design recently for a customer wanting to rethink the kitchen of their single storey, 1950s style home.  The existing wide, horizontal layout led us to develop a kitchen with almost a street cafe style. This indoor outdoor kitchen faces out into the garden rather than internally and its polished concrete floor extends seamlessly from inside to outside. Bifolding glass doors optimise natural light and add to the relaxed, cafe feel.