Building A Good Neighbour

MA Architects discuss the design process of the newly completed Six Brookville Road. The practice, led by Karen Alcock and Clare McAllister, is driven by designing livable homes for long term living, with connectivity with the existing neighbourhood top of mind. In the context of Six Brookville Road, that includes a mix of single and 2 storey Victorian houses, a sprinkling of 3 storey apartments buildings from various eras, and Toorak Primary School, the immediately adjoining neighbour to the east.

According to Karen and Clare, liveable homes are about the quality of the space, rather than the quality of the fittings. At Brookville there is an emphasis on good orientation, the quality of the light, cross ventilation and considered aspect, with the careful framing of views. Liveability is also about ‘comfort’ and being able to change the configuration of internal spaces from the generous to the intimate and cosy. At Brookville sliding screens and the location of joinery elements provide this flexibility.

Generous French windows opening to gardens and balconies reinforce the feeling of light and space. The simple, restrained palette of finishes, including the herringbone timber parquetry floors and natural stone also contribute to the understated interior design. Luxury is about the luxury of space. The quality of the internal experience is more than finishes and branded appliances. It’s achieved by quality daylight, winter solar access and shade for summer, natural ventilation and external views that frame greenery and extend the interior into the garden and balcony spaces.

Photo: Derek Swalwell

Despite Toorak’s reputation as a neighbourhood of mansions it is actually a very mixed suburb with a diverse range of both detached houses and residential apartment buildings, dating from all eras and ranging from compact affordable rentals to the higher end of the market.

The larger scale apartments at Brookville offer an option for generously scaled living spaces for families, or to accommodate extended and visiting family, with all the convenience and low maintenance that comes with apartment living.

Photo: Derek Swalwell

As a broad demographic, ‘downsizers’ are looking for all the amenities of their home in a smaller package. Key considerations are spaces that can suit a variety of furniture and artwork styles, a quantity of well considered storage, spaces that work well during daylight hours as people are home more during the day, room to accommodate visiting family and friends, and useable outdoor areas. The design of Brookville has responded to all these criteria.

The building responds to the corner location, with corner balconies ‘opening’ out to the street. This ‘cut away’ corner further reduces the visual scale.

Photo: Derek Swalwell

The rear façade, facing onto the school, has not been treated as the back of house and has been as carefully considered as the street facades. The Design Team worked with the adjoining primary school to achieve the right balance between a visually active façade with improved security and maintaining privacy from overlooking for the school children.

Particular attention has been paid to the detailing at street level, and the engagement with the footpath. The design of the front fences provides a balance between creating a landscaped edge to the site, and providing privacy to the ground floor gardens. This has been achieved with a combination solid fencing, in areas set back from the boundary to allow for planting along the footpath edge, to soften the effect of the solid fence, and panels of open steel slat fencing with hedging behind. The existing splayed setback of the fence on the corner has been increased to a more generous setback to allow for a canopy tree on the footpath side of the fence. These elements are in line with MA Architect‘s philosophy of building as a good neighbour, ensuring the design sits into the site, is sensitive to its context and considers the pedestrian view.

There is one property remaining for sale at Six Brookville Road. Contact Emma Bloom at Kay and Burton on 0419 330 968 for more information.