A Little Gem in Kenmore (manifesto) .. posted by Ron

In August 2014 we moved into our house in the leafy Brisbane suburb of Kenmore.  The house is quite special to us, it's a Merchant Builders house designed by Melbourne Architect Graeme Gunn and built in 1979.

Merchant Builders were based in Melbourne and it was a surprise to find one of their houses in Brisbane - to our knowledge this is the only one to be built in Brisbane.  Some of the neighbours have been living here since the houses were built in the street so we will try and see if they are able to shed some light on how this particular home was built.

Merchant Builders houses represent a significant aspect of Australian cultural and architectural history. In Melbourne their houses, display villages and group developments have been heritage listed. They also have personal significance as the inspiration for me to pursue a career as an architect. I have a collection of their original plan brochures and marketing material that I will gradually add to our dedicated page, Merchant Builders - Background.

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By current standards the houses are relatively modest but what they have is great planning, good cross ventilation and thermal performance, expressed timber roof structure and timber ceilings, full height timber windows, wide full height internal sliding doors, roof structure that extending to form an external pergola that integrates the interior and exterior spaces of the house.

All of these elements are modest but bespoke systems that combine in many alternative ways to create houses of unique  character that are extremely comfortable to live in. The designs were under pinned by a value system that ensured design editing to create a consistent identity for the Merchant Builders brand. We will endeavour to apply that same process in our interventions.

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Our house is in very good condition for its age, it has been well maintained because the owners have appreciated the quality of life that it provides. Our renovation goal is to rectify any deterioration that we may find and restore it to original condition, at the same time we want to bring a contemporary sensibility to it in our interventions. We aim to do this by adopting the value system of the original design and apply it to what we do. Hopefully the finished renovation will hang together, respecting the history of the house but also grounding it in the present.