An Image of its Former Self

This has been covered on a few blogs, and originated on Core77. It certainly sets a startling and perhaps innovative precedent in downtown Melbourne...

In Tyson Street Richmond (an inner suburb of Melbourne), Jackson Clements Burrows Architects have designed a house that is most unusual. Or rather, it's not the house per se that's so unusual – it's the large photo of the older house that was demolished to make way for the new one that is unusual – it occupies much of the street elevation of the site, with the new dwelling located behind this semi-transparent photo-facade.

The Tyson Street house "provides a response to the difficulty of making of architecture in heritage zones. The site was controlled by a Heritage overlay which favoured the retention of existing dwellings. In response to the clients desire to demolish the existing house, we proposed a strategy to replace the dilapidated cottage with a new house integrated within a supergraphic image of its former self".

The local council have either an amazing sense of theatre and an appreciation of 'the radical' – or this was approved late on a Friday afternoon. I have to admit to really quite liking the idea and can actually imagine this happening a whole lot more often. Recording and retaining fragments and aspects of our communities and built environments via permanent images displayed en situ on screen (or via other methods) is a nice idea and a whole lot more interesting than merely bulldozing memories away. But try telling that to a property developer.

More at World Architecture News.