The Triumph of Williamstown - Small Project, Big Difference

02 What’s In

Small Project BIG DIFFERENCE

The Triumph of Williamstown

Interview with Rhys Davies, Rhys Davies Building Design, and his client, Anne

We want to celebrate the ‘small’ projects we do, which have made a big difference to a client’s life. What’s important is not the object we’re making; it is the life we’re making new possibilities for.

Until now, the difference we make to our clients’ lives through these projects has gone largely unacknowledged. This year, we’re sharing these feel-good stories in every issue.

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John, happy to call Ray’s Shed his home.

Small Project: Rhys

“Anne lives in Melbourne’s inner west with her younger brother, John, who has special needs. John, who had been living independently, was getting to a stage where he was starting to struggle, even with some external assistance. Anne wanted to bring John home to live with her, while helping him to maintain his independence.

There wasn’t suitable accommodation inside her absolutely gorgeous timber Victorian (c1880) home in which she’s lived since 1996. However, to the rear of the block, was a double-storey man cave which Anne’s late partner, Ray, designed and built to house his classic cars, and tinker in.

Ray’s original construction method was post and beam, utilising reclaimed timber power poles. The garage had two entrances: a roller door on to the rear laneway, and another which opened on to the shaded garden at the rear of Anne’s main house. Anne wanted to convert some of the space in the garage into

studio-style living quarters for her brother. She also wanted to future-proof it by improving the garage’s accessibility to ensure John could still live in it even if he was struggling to walk.

The brief was to convert the existing double garage with a mezzanine floor, into a modern living space with scope to improve accessibility as time progressed. Anne’s architect friend did the original sketch work for the renovation of the garage and these sketches, and the copyright to go with them, were given to me and it was my job to see if I could make this work and get it compliant.

The garage had a concrete slab, and all the structural work, such as really chunky postand-beam trusses, was reclaimed and had a very industrial quality. It was fantastic. I was exceedingly jealous of it because it was just full of fantastic mementos and collectable pieces; plus, inside the garage, was a Triumph Herald classic car, in immaculate condition.

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Small Project BIG DIFFERENCE

One car space was kept for the Triumph, and the other was converted into living quarters for John. The mezzanine floor was where the bedroom and bathroom would go. The combined floor space of the completed, two-level garage was 85m2; about 70m2 for the ground floor, including the single garage, and a living space; and 15m2 for the bedroom and bathroom on the mezzanine level.

Accessibility was one of the key things Anne and I both knew would pose a problem down the track. The existing stairs were an old metal spiral staircase which would have been impossible for John to use and retrofitting a stair lift would not be feasible. Anne knew a time would come when John may not be able to get up any stairs at all so there had to be an allowance made for installing a chair lift or stair lift later. In response to this brief, the replacement stairs were designed to be wider than required. It seemed odd that the National Construction Code didn’t specify the width the stairways should be so I had to go to the accessibility standard to work things out there.

To put it into layman’s terms, I overcooked the stairs and sent off the designs to a couple of stair-lift manufacturers to validate that the design would work if they needed to be retrofitted. The doorways were also made wide enough (920mm) to get a wheelchair through.

Designing the toilet, shower and vanity was probably the most complex part because it was within an attic space and head height was severely restricted. The original design had no insulation and seemed very open but once I started putting insulation in and trying to align everything, it ate away a lot of ceiling space, especially for the en-suite.

As well as the post and beam, there was cladding and an external stone nib wall, with timber weatherboards and a concrete block boundary wall on the side. Another part of the job was to disguise the concrete blocks because they’re not particularly attractive to look at internally, and they’re thermally inefficient.

Anne wanted skylights to improve the lighting so I installed three Velux skylights, which are remote-control openable, with automated blinds and rain sensing; top of the line windows. A couple of AC units were fitted to provide more thermal comfort. The hardest thing was to make sure that the thermal performance was accurate so NRG did the thermal assessment and confirmed a 6-star energy rating.

I started the project in mid-2018 and finished in late 2019. The ‘after’ photos were taken in February 2020 – just prior to Melbourne’s first lockdown. The project came in within the budget of approximately $110,000. I effectively did this project pro bono; my fees were just enough to cover staffing costs because I saw this as a strong social justice project.

My favourite features of the project were the original, beautiful timber rafters and trusses, preserved on the mezzanine level. Even with all the new insulation sealing lines, the bottom cords and the remainder of the top cords, and the webbing of the trusses, remained visible.

Ray cruising in his 1965 Triumph Herald Vitesse.

For me, it was really important to not plaster over everything because I wanted to honour Anne’s late partner Ray who designed and built the garage but sadly passed away not long after it was constructed. The original, rustic, big, bulky, unshaved, rough-as-guts style was all Ray’s and it was really nice. In fact, I liked it so much that I use an image of the completed project on the home page of my website www.rdbd.com.au. I see it as probably one of the best architectural photos I have ever produced. I just love the images.”

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Thank you to Member Rhys Davies for submitting this story about a completed project which fits this brief perfectly.02 What’s In

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02 What’s In

Big Difference: Anne

“It’s been eight years since my partner passed away and 16 months since the project was completed, and I can now confidently talk about what this has meant to me, and my brother. It’s made a huge difference, because it’s enabled me to have my brother, John, who has special needs, come and live in an independent space. It’s also given new life to what was my partner’s workshop, a space which was never built to live in.

It’s also given me a real, meaningful reason to stay on. I started to think it was all too much for me so, on a very personal level, this project means so much more than just the bricks and mortar, and what it looks like. It’s enabled me to continue to live in my home, which I love, and it’s enabled me to create a new, independent-living space for my younger brother.

It’s a lovely space. I became an owner builder to do the project and each tradie who worked on it said, ‘I could live here’. It’s very lived-in now.

Who knew that we were going to face a pandemic? John moved in in December 2019 and by March we were in the midst of the pandemic and John was stood down. So, on a very human level, as to the benefits of this project, it goes deep for me.

It was a project that was my partner’s. He designed it and he was the owner-builder for the original shed, which was to be his workshop. And then, when he died, I couldn’t face it. I sort of turned the key and I really didn’t go in there. Ray restored classic, Triumph cars. So, it was hard back then, to see what the shed could possibly be. It took a number of years for me to be in the right emotional headspace to tackle the project.

When the project was underway, even in its very early stages, I knew I was making the right decision and that it made sense. It took a lot of preparation to get to the stage where we could get the work underway – or even get Rhys to come and give his feedback and share his ideas – because I had so much to clear out. It was a whole workshop full of car parts and I didn’t know what any of the car parts were.

I love it now but, initially, it was really hard to see the outcome and what I was trying to achieve. There was a day in the project that I remember standing up in the mezzanine floor and in that moment – when the en-suite was going in – I got quite emotional because I really felt that Ray would have been absolutely thrilled with what we were doing with his workshop. I just sort of felt he was part of the project. Once Rhys and I agreed on the plans and all the right approvals were through, and we started to see the framework go up, then I thought, ‘This is real; this is going to be good’.

And I had great tradies on board and Rhys was amazing. I was pretty blessed actually, that through the whole project I engaged good people who cared about the project. Rhys really connected with me, and was very interested in the history of the work. It wasn’t all about just the plans, the drawings; it was about understanding the history and what my dreams were for reimagining the space. So, I think from that very first interaction with Rhys, I felt confident that this is going to be okay. This is going to work out. I felt as if I was in safe hands actually.

Downstairs was one big workshop but upstairs was where Ray wanted to do his drafting and build model cars. It was going to be a real man cave. This was his dream and he got to enjoy it for a short time but certainly not for long enough. He ran out of time to finish upstairs off. He died way too early. Ray was very creative he was forever designing things so it was just going to be his place to escape.

People probably think I’m quite cruel putting my brother in a shed, but it’s a pretty special shed! John got real enjoyment out of setting it up as his new home. He’s very respectful of the space and keeps it tidy. When people come to visit who haven’t seen John’s place, I know he’s proud because everyone is so complimentary of what we’ve done. It makes John feel good. I know he’s happy.

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Through that COVID year, when we were so restricted, if John wasn’t living here, it would have been incredibly difficult. We provided much-needed company for each other. He still loves the space. He’s an adult man who likes his independence and I give him that, and he gives me that, but, you know, we come together for our evening meal, and he helps out in the garden. The timing was perfect, actually, because it meant I could also help him. John can’t navigate things like Telehealth to keep his health appointments going. He’s not computer literate so if I wasn’t living with him, I’m not sure how we would have managed at all that last year.

I felt by the end of the project Rhys knew Ray and I know that Ray would have liked Rhys and would have trusted Rhys. That’s how I felt. That’s where Rhys was phenomenal: at making that connection with the client and allowing time in our interaction to understand my story, and what we were hoping to achieve. I never felt like he was rushing me through the process. He was genuinely invested in that client relationship. If he hadn’t done the project, I’m not sure the results would have been as great as they are.”

Share your ‘Small Project, Big Difference’ stories with us!

We’d like your words and pictures telling feel-good stories about small projects which made a big difference, to publish in this magazine. The project must be in Australia, under $350K (not including land), have its certificate of occupancy, and the client must agree to be profiled (though anonymity is OK). Simply email a sentence or two about your project to editor@designmatters.org.au and we’ll get back to you.

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