yinjispace

ARCHITECTURE
Adriana Hanna
INTERIOR
Adriana Hanna
PHOTOGRAPHY
Sean Fennessy
EDITOR
Gina
Collection

Adriana Hanna is adept at finding a balance between old and new, allowing architecture, materials, and objects from different periods to coexist naturally. As she shared with us during our conversation, a residence is not an object to be redefined, but a space that continues to grow with living and constantly establishes a relationship with its inhabitants. Design should be "an authentic expression of the owner's character, environment, and materials," replacing unnecessary ornamentation with concise articulation. This project has also become her practice in exploring the relationship between dwelling, time, and life.

The house is located in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, it's surrounded by similar tudor revival homes, works included the restoration and reimagining of an existing heritage home and previous architectural additions. Working with the existing heritage fabric always presents challenges and constraints. In this instance it was eroding structural foundations, poor thermal performance, served and servant spaces separated from living spaces. Liveability was achieved through a rigorous approach to elevate the experience of living spaces integrated with operational spaces and connecting the house to the garden.

We had been living in the house for over a decade slowly chipping away at necessary works to repair and improve the home which had been neglected for decades. The first stage was the garden, the block is generous, yet the yard was a huge expanse of concrete with one tree. We valued open space so landscape outweighed the need for additional building. So we went about creating a rambling native garden which would provide aspect from the main living area and kitchen. 

It became apparent from years living in the home the constraints and issues of the plan and its layout, particularly as a young family. Additional space wasn’t an issue, it was instead efficiency, function and thermal performance. We went about rationalising the plan in a pursuit of ‘sufficiency and preservation’ without diminishing the scale of the original home. This involved structural replanning of kitchen, dining, laundry, living spaces. Replacing glazing to double glazing and introducing solar panels. Being a tudor revival home it takes cues from the arts and crafts era, I’ve attempted to draw on the unconventional but also reinterpret and amplify motifs from arts and crafts architects such as C.F.A Voyssey and Lutyens.

For architects the home is typically a testing ground for ideas that I’m perhaps not brave enough to test in practice, so some of the forms and materials are an exploration.

Kitchen/Living space which are connected in plan, they're saturated in citrus tone  that create a sense of warmth and being a west facing space with aspect to garden it creates an afternoon glow in the space. This creates a refuge in the cold gloomy Melbourne winters.  I sourced terrazzo from Artedomus for the benchtop which was deadstock from 90’s, floors were Egyptian limestone laid in textural pattern. Combined with dark timbers and motifs which creates a dialogue to the original timber detials of the house.

I have an insatiable appetite for design objects both local and international. In heritage home collecting pieces can demonstrate that culture and style are transhistorical.  The decisions that drive my curation are really personal, any piece should be a reflection of the owner and their own personality. I like eccentric and original pieces that emphaises the skill and dedication in the makers hand.

They can be iconic modernist designs such as Corbusier, Noguchi or Perriand or contemporary local pieces such as Thomas Coward or Scotty Bemelen. My first piece was the Togo by Michal Ducaroy which I customized in velvet, which wasn’t a standard fabric and my latest piece would be a vintage Kyoto table from Gianfranco Frattini. Favourite piece will always be my Tokyo Chaise by Charlotte Perriand. 

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