A narrow Brunswick terrace house is modified with a beautiful outcome
“I don’t want to look disabled” is very often one of the first things said to us by our clients. As architects, we relish the challenge of designing an elegant bathroom which also meets the particular needs of a wheelchair user. In this case, our client, Carly, was extra dedicated to this cause, and we worked together very closely to achieve exactly that.
The task in her Brunswick terrace house was always going to be extra challenging. The space we had to work with, whilst long, was less than 1.5 metres wide! Within this we were able to fit a generous shower, toilet, a beautiful custom designed vanity as well as a small laundry.
The tight space meant that the room for error was always slim. As a result, an extensive period of time was spent on site during construction, manoeuvring a commode around the part-built bathroom, testing circulation and adjusting the plans to maximise every last millimetre.
Craig, the builder was also part of the collaboration – suggested different methods to achieve a desired outcome or small changes which made a big difference. The collaboration extended to the family too, with one of Carly’s relatives constructing the kitchen joinery. Again, the aim here, was to create an accessible kitchen which would look like any other and also be suitable for Carly’s much taller partner to use.
The $60,000 project, part funded by NDIS and client, was a long journey from initial assessment, Schematic Design and early tendering for NDIS Funding: through to Design Development and Construction Documentation. Construction delays ensued due to Covid-19 but all this hard work ultimately culminated in a beautiful outcome; the result of a truly collaborative process of which everyone could be proud.
