There was much to lament about this 1984 beach house on the Morningside Peninsula in Victoria, starting with the dilapidated finishes and dysfunctional layout, and ending with the gray, split-face block facade that the homeowners dubbed the “toilet block.”

Enter Figureground Architecture for a fix. The firm made strategic interventions to lightly expand the home, reconfigure the interior, and knit it all together with a more refined material palette. “The challenge was to find a way to both reorganize space and a create a coherent and seamless language within the constraints of an idiosyncratic existing building structure,” the architects say.

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Related Reading: A Revitalized Rear Addition in Melbourne Connects a Victorian With a Verdant Garden

Project Credits:

Architecture: Figureground Architecture / @figuregroundarchitecture

Builder: P.M. Versteegen and Sons

Structural Engineer: Maurice Farrugia & Associates Pty. Ltd.

An ’80s Beach House in Australia Goes From “Blah” to Beautiful