South elevation

South elevation sketch

Armed with a sketch design and Archicentre's approval to proceed, the architects moved onto stage 4 of the project. A meeting with the City of Melbourne Town Planning Department was arranged.

Even though it was just a little taller than the adjoining two storey Terrace House, the three storey building was - according to the town planner - 'pushing' the envelope too far. While the Town Planner had only minor concerns he was convinced that the Heritage Advisor would see the design as 'completely out of character' with a single storey terrace site. He also believed the Carlton Residents Association would raise strong objections to a three storey building. The architects resolved with the Town Planner to keep to a two storey maximum height and to keep new construction beyond/behind the existing ridge line.

The architect explains the revised scheme: "Now, rather than an open back yard we decided that an internal light court along with a boundary skylight shaft and first floor skylights would allow sufficient light into the town house and would thus allow construction up to the rear boundary. The rear boundary portion of the site could then contain a carport at least and perhaps a roof deck or additional habitable space.

A first floor bedroom was then located over the carport with glazing to the north. In addition, a glass shaft to the west side of the first floor bedroom with paved flooring was designed to be part of the bedroom yet have the feel of an open balcony space. This would allow more light into the bedroom and also the first floor living room beyond.

Satisfied with the redesign, the architect scheduled another meeting with the Town Planner, the Heritage Consultant, Carlton Residents Association and neighbours. The architect also contacted the owners of the adjoining property.

The City of Melbourne Heritage Consultant believed that any change to the existing roof fabric would be out of character with the existing building and that a single storey only development, essentially confined within the existing building envelope was the preferred design solution for the site. The Town Planner was happy to consider the current design but felt that if neighbours objected to overshadowing he would find it difficult to approve the design.

The Carlton Residents Association felt that a two storey wall on the lane boundary would be intrusive into the lane, too out of character and would create over shadowing of neighbouring sites. The Architect could have argued against this as a two storey wall already exists in the lane to the north-west and the degree of overshadowing was not excessive. However, objections along these lines could force the entire project to VCAT with potential delays as a result. Better to give some ground and compromise, in this case, in the hope of getting the objectors on side and moving forward. A third scheme was therefore produced.

T2 north elevation

North elevation sketch

T1 north elevation

Before proceeding with this Stage another meeting was held with the City of Melbourne to gauge the reaction of the Planning Officer. There remained some concern over the sightlines and how much of the proposed house could be visible from the diagonal view.

The Architect looked at the design in a larger scale format with cross sections through various parts of the house. A meeting was held with a Landscape Architect to explore options for the rear garden and light well. Ideas included a shallow water basin with a textured base, crude steel furniture recalling the days of homemade outside garden furniture of the Italian migrants who lived in many of the local houses post-WW II., perhaps a steel sunscreen made from mesh on varying height poles. Removal of the rear fence was also suggested, or gates that opened right up with views of the fence across the lane, which could perhaps be decorated as an extension of the garden.

Privacy was also a major factor, especially overlooking into the neighbour's yard. Interesting side screens could address this problem. As art and colour are part of Carlton's heritage - colours were a fitting and exciting treatment for the rear exterior, framed by structural elements and applied to different wall planes and surfaces.

Developing the Design Fact Sheet