A series of small gardens designed to "encourage play and movement" breaks up Hopscotch House, a cottage in Brisbane with an extension by local studio John Ellway.
Situated on a low-rise estate in the suburb of Woolloongabba, the project leaves the original building and its relationship to the street largely untouched, instead extending backwards to fill the site.
John Ellway has extended a cottage in Brisbane
"When extending a house in this city, the existing timber structure is generally lifted into the air and built-in under ? it is cheap and quick, but destroys the streetscape of the last 100 years," the studio's founder John Ellway told Dezeen.
"The project engages with the street and neighbourhood rather than turning its back," he continued. The home is arranged around five gardens
John Ellway arranged Hopscotch House's living spaces around five gardens, which it said is hoped to "encourage play and movement".
Each one has been given its own character, from a "neighbourhood garden" at the front of the home to encourage interaction with the street, to a more intimate "secure courtyard" overlooked by the living spaces at the back of the site.
It is intended to encourage play
"The five gardens give each adjacent room an aspect to capture sun, breeze, and light," explained Ellway. "Walls, roofs and openings are assembled as a repeating kit-of-parts designed to mediate weather through the year,&quo...