Rippling reflections: Toowong Lighthouse

Initial discussions between the owners of this 1930s Californian-bungalow-style house in Brisbane and architects Joel Alcorn and Chloe Middleton of Alcorn Middleton Architecture Office focused on aspirations for the sensitive transformation of the historic home. As the conversation settled on the family’s close ties to Mykonos in Greece, the team was inspired by visions of blue-topped cathedrals, white cement-render walls and strong ocean and sky connections. “We really tuned in to that,” Joel explains. “And we found a connection to a distant place that the family is tied to.”

The removal of the old timber deck and flyover roof made space for a compact double-storey extension positioned between the existing bungalow and the backyard swimming pool. While avoiding pastiche, the architecture creates a “resort-style” setting in the subtropical, suburban landscape. At ground level, a colonnade formed by white cement-render brick columns contains new dining, living and entertaining spaces, extending out to the very edge of the pool. Rippling reflections and flickers of blue are cast across the impressive vaulted ceiling inside, bringing dynamism and a Cycladic sensibility to spaces old and new.

The kitchen retains its original position at the ground floor, overlooking the entertainment area and pool, but a few clever planning moves have dramatically improved its attractiveness and usability. The original galley arrangement of kitchen benches remains, but it now culminates in a curved banquette and breakfast bar that punctuates a side wall. In a kitchen of bright white surfaces, the banquette adds a vibrant shade of blue. A large wall opening near the kitchen sink, a skylight and new windows in the breakfast bar illuminate this corner of the house and open it up to the pool, garden and sky.

Upstairs, the classic white-and-blue colour combination in the children’s bathroom throws another nod to Mykonos. White tiles have been laid partway up the wall, striking a sharp line before the sky-blue wall dissolves into the sky-blue ceiling. Around the bathtub, tiles in shades of azure are introduced, expanding the home’s chromatic range and contrasting the tiles’ texture with that of cement render. In the ensuite, the blue colours deepen into ultramarine as they move up the walls, while terrazzo floor tiles add a paler oceanic shade. White tiles in a range of sizes bring playfulness and depth, uniting pop-art design tendencies with time-honoured colour and texture combinations.