Sydney-based architecture practice CplusC Architectural Workshop has rejuvenated old shop house with blow up green infills within late Victorian terrace housing and post-industrial warehouses in Darlington, Australia. 

Called Welcome to the Jungle House, the house is situated in an inner-city heritage conservation in Darlington. The architects tried to address the issue of over consumption realized through architecture. 

"Architecture is a form of consumption and the nature in which architecture is consumed has changed dramatically over the past century," stressed the architects. "Can architecture reduce the exponentially increasing consumption that threatens humanity itself?", they asked. 

To achieve this over consumption on built environment, the architects renovated a two-story building in an efficient way as much as possible, by integrating with the heritage façade of rendered masonry, steel, timber and greenery. 

A two-storey shop top house in disrepair and close to collapse originally occupied the 90-square-metre triangular site. The original spackled rendered masonry façade had cultural and streetscape significance to the local heritage conservation area and its necessary reconstruction was managed under strict heritage controls. 

Original window openings have been framed in pre-rusted steel and juxtaposed with new openings framed in gloss white powder coat steel. 

A black photovoltaic panel array signals the new addition to the original northern façade, harnessing sunlight throughout the day, acting as a billboard for the sustainability attributes of the architecture and starkly contrasting the original rendered heritage facade.

The fully operable glass inner skin of the home is inset from the outer punctuated masonry façade, providing an abundance of light and outlook whilst maintaining privacy from the public realm. 

This interstitial zone provides passive thermal regulation across the upper floors with planter beds ‘floating’ in between the glass and masonry skins to provide outlook to greenery and cooling to internal spaces via transpiration. The floating planter beds are also an integrated structurally engineered solution to the lateral bracing needs of the masonry wall.

The rooftop is constructed of steel planter beds which provide deep soil for native plants and fruit and vegetables. The garden beds are irrigated with from the fishpond providing nutrient rich water created by the edible silver perch (fish).

Image © Ryan Ng

Image © Ryan Ng

Ground floor plan

First floor plan

Second floor plan

All images © Michael Lassman unless otherwise stated.

> via CplusC Architectural Workshop