MONTY SIBBEL
Monty Sibbel House is a renovation and restoration to what was a tired 1970s Sibbel home nestled under the canopy of beautiful old gum trees for a growing young family. When purchased, the home had seen years of neglect and coats of paint covering its original features, and previous renovations had clouded the homes structured planning while ignoring its shortfalls.
The 1970s saw a movement of an environmental architecture which was ‘handmade’, and those searching for alternative lifestyles flocked to the outskirts of Melbourne to build houses ‘of the land’. Born from this revolt against automation, modernist aspirations and the small homes service, the bones of this Sibbel Home reflect a search for an affordable modern Australian home of its time.
The project focused on restoring the character of the home and inserting finely crafted spotted gum joinery. The rhythm of oregon beams spanning the width of the home were revealed, full height cedar windows sanded back and double glazed, and walls filled with insulation.
A pared back pallette of materials helps to give focus the home’s original qualities. Native timbers are used for the joinery, windows and floors, and warm, soft colours in lime washes take cues from the evolving tones of the trunks of the surrounding gums. New joinery insertions celebrate the rugged figure and depth of spotted gum which lightly feather at the edges presenting as simple furniture within the spaces.
Internally the living spaces run openly across the house separated by a large brick flue restored back to a working fireplace. Full height glazing to the north is shaded by deep eaves of the home’s large parasol, held by the newly exposed timber beams drawing the eye outwards into the garden. Private spaces run in parallel to the south. Small alterations shifted the bathroom and offered connection to the rear yard from the living spaces and completed a sense of inhabiting the bush garden.
