Kowhai Studio is a response to one of the effects of the pandemic and the resulting need for more flexible live-work options in the city’s fringe suburbs.

The need was for a flexible space to be used as a home office and an overflow sleeping studio for guests. By relegating the car to an external hard-stand and up-cycling the existing bungalow-styled double garage into a studio space with kitchenette, bathroom, and storage areas, the clients have achieved an enviable and unique home / work lifestyle.

The main studio has built-in desking and cabinetry for efficient space use and a fold-down desk and bed, allowing the space to be converted from work room to bedroom in two simple moves.

The exterior of the building was required by planning rules to mimic the original bungalow with the weatherboards, roofing, and timber joinery all sympathetic to houses in the surrounding streetscape. New windows with coloured glazing are a subtle, modern, reference to traditional bungalow or villa veranda windows, and along with the clear glazing, fills this studio with light.

Internally, the concrete floor has been polished and the walls re-lined with white-washed grooved panelling. The original garage roof trusses remain partially exposed with over-laid painted timber battens to emphasise the volume of the space. Birch plywood ceiling linings and cabinetry provide a hint of timber warmth to the interior.

The change in priorities forced by the pandemic has become an accepted normal that will continue long after the pandemic has passed. This simple building conversion is a creative way of adapting and re-thinking the way we live and work.

Photo Credit - Ross Keane